A Second Chance
by Warrior Hal
Summary: Once the Fourth Espada dies, he'll find that he's got a second chance at life, reborn into some of the most unlikely circumstances, but at the same time discovering things he never knew of. Besides...how crazy can it get? Notsuchagoodsummary;just read it
1. The Second Chance

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

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Rukia Kurosaki felt a nurse dab her face with a cloth. It was Yuzu. Her sister was wrapping Rukia's child in a blanket, while Rukia's husband stood by her side, rubbing his red, sore hand.

"It's a boy." Karin said, smiling. She handed the child to its mother, and Rukia looked down at him. He had unusually green eyes that were quite unlike any child's eyes she had seen before. They weren't looking around at everything, or just staring at her aimlessly. They were _focused._ And it unnerved her a bit to think that, but dismissed the thought. This was a new born she was thinking about!

Ichigo sighed gently, and put a hand on her shoulder-the one that wasn't nearly broken. He smiled at her.

"I'd say we did a pretty good job. Though I have no idea where he got those eyes from. It defiantly wasn't from my side of the family." he said

"Yes, well-wait, _we?_ Ichigo, are you already forgetting that _I_ was the one who just gave child birth?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Wha-What? No, of course not! Besides, how could I forget with this hand of mine?" he muttered the last part, but Rukia could still here him. She shook her head gently, and then looked back at their child, whose eyes were now on Ichigo.

"I think he likes you." she said, and then "So, Ichigo…um…I haven't exactly thought of a name yet for our child. I thought it would be something we could both agree on…"

"…" Ichigo was completely silent. He was focused on the infant in his wife's arms.

"Rukia…look at his eyes…their…different." he said slowly, like someone waking from a dream.

"What? Oh, you noticed that too? I…it's probably just the lighting in here or something." she said dismissively

"No…look. It's like he already knows something…" Ichigo said

"Ichigo…he's just a newborn. There's no way that-"

"Well hello there!" someone chirped joyously. The couple snapped their heads up and saw a green clad man, wearing a familiar hat, and clogs without socks even though it was in the middle of the winter. He had a cane and a fan, which seemed even odder, though the couple knew better.

"Urahara." Rukia growled, narrowing her eyes, "Why are you here?"

"Oh, just came to see if the news was true or not. Congratulations on your child, though I have no idea where he got those eyes from. Maybe from Rukia?" the blond man said, grinning and waving his fan, even though it was freezing outside. A black cat had followed him into the room.

It jumped up on the bed, and sat by Rukia's legs. The cat looked at the child, who was looking straight back at the cat.

"I know those eyes…I've seen them once or twice before. Those eyes…are ones I'd never forget." the cat muttered in a deep male's voice. A talking cat may have shocked most people, but the couple were used to it.

"What do you mean, Yoruichi?" Ichigo asked, but he had a feeling that he knew what she was about to say.

"He reminds me of Ulquiorra Schiffer." she said plainly. Just like that with no hesitation.

"What? You mean the arrancar? But he died a long time ago, and since he was a hollow, he would've ended up in Soul Society. Right?" she asked, starting to panic. There was no way her child could be the reincarnation of the cruel Espada who had tortured her friends and helped Aizen in his devious schemes.

"Well, remember Rukia. Not all hollows go to Soul Society. It's a rarely occurs, but sometimes a hollow will be reborn as a human with no memory of its doing when it was a hollow. Oh, don't worry. A zanpakuto still cleanses the sins of a hollow, though it seemed not to have any real affect on the arrancar…"

"What are you saying Urahara?!" Rukia asked, on the verge of tears. She wasn't the emotional type, but she had just gone through childbirth, and now this man who she considered to have nearly ruined her life, was telling her that her newborn son was the reincarnation of a monster.

"Well, I'm saying that later on in life he _might_ remember being a hollow, though it's highly unlikely. And if you were wondering, then yes, he is…well…you know." Urahara said, shifting his hat slightly.

"…" Rukia was silent as she looked down at her son. She thought of all the horrible things the Cuarta Espada had done to Ichigo and their friends. He had nearly killed Ichigo several times, emotionally tortured her best friend, and as a hollow, killed many shinigami. He had been ruthless, and had no heart. He had been a monster completely devoid of any emotion. Though Ichigo on the other hand thought of this differently.

Ulquiorra and him had never been friends. They had been far from it, yet there was still some sort of connection between him and the fourth Espada. Maybe because he had nearly killed Ichigo several times, but always spared him up until their final battle when he finally unsheathed his zanpakuto, showing Ichigo that he was serious. Or perhaps it was because he had been the one to reawaken Ichigo from his hollow-like state, when his hollow had not only stabbed Uryu, but could've killed everyone fighting below them as well. Including Rukia. Ichigo always hated to think what would've happened if Ulquiorra had not stopped him there. Ichigo always felt a strange frustration when he thought of the sad looking arrancar. He felt as if he owed Ulquiorra a debt, a sort of favor, not only for stopping him, but in a sense, for helping him get stronger. At night when he thought about it, he started to realize more and more that all along Ulquiorra never meant him any true harm. That the reason he kept sparing him, was so the Espada could see Ichigo at the peak of his power, to draw out his full capabilities.

'_I guess he thought I actually had a chance of winning.'_ Ichigo thought bitterly. Though he had never really won. It was his inner hollow that dealt the devastating blows to the Espada, not he. And Ulquiorra had died from his wounds, turning to ash and dissolving in the desert wind.

Ichigo always thought it was cruel, the way that Ulquiorra died. He knew that Ulquiorra was just a hollow, one that had nearly killed him and then turned on his friends when he thought Ichigo was dead, but still. There was still that connection, forged from all the near death experiences and the contact he had with Orihime, and the way things ended. Though they never did.

"_...Hmph... Even in the end... You never do what I want...__"_

Why had he wanted Ichigo to just finish him off like that? It didn't make sense to Ichigo, but as time went on after their final battle, he could piece more and more together of what had happened until he could finally figure out what had happened.

The war had been called off by Aizen, and all the Espada had been revived since their corpses were still intact. All accept one. Number four. Ever since the war had been called off, life had gone back to being semi-normal. There were still three captains missing, though Ichigo had taken the spot as fifth captain, with Rukia as his lieutenant. Uryu and Orihime got married, and Uryu had become a head doctor, and now ran his father's hospital, while Orihime had become a school teacher.

The Espada had been revived by Orihime…who had been forced to do so by Aizen, and then they were allowed to leave Hueco Mundo. And ever since, they hadn't heard a single thing from the arrancar. Hollows still came into the human world, but not as frequently. It was as if the Winter War had never happened.

Ichigo looked down at the child in Rukia's arms. Could it really be Ulquiorra reborn?

He looked into the child's eyes. They were exactly like Ulquiorra's. Exactly.

"Ichigo…" Rukia said as she gently touched his arm

"I don't care who he was before, because he's our son now, and that's all that matters." Ichigo said firmly, placing his other hand on her other shoulder, and squeezing it gently. Ichigo found it oddly ironic that the only person he ever fought but never truly defeated had been reborn as his son.

"Yes…your right." Rukia said, and brushed her hand lightly against her son's face. He was sleeping. She guessed it didn't matter what he did before, because this was a fresh start for all of them. The Cuarto Espada had another chance at life, and this was it.

"…So then, it's decided! Young Ulquiorra will-" Urahara started, but Ichigo held up his hands.

"Now wait a second. Who said we were going to name our son _Ulquiorra_?" Ichigo asked angrily. Even if their son was Ulquiorra reincarnated, it didn't mean he had to have the same name.

"Well, I just thought it'd be nice since you two obliviously haven't thought of a name yet. And Ulquiorra is a nice name." Yoruichi yawned.

"Well, we were but-" Rukia started to say, but Urahara cut her off

"Ulquiorra it is then!" he grinned, snapping the fan shut. Rukia took a deep breath. She was in no condition to get up and beat the crap out of the annoying shop keeper. At least not yet.

Ichigo and Rukia looked down at their new son, hoping that this could be the beginning of a fresh start for all of them.

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	2. Getting Back On Your Feet

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

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Rukia cradled her son as he slept peacefully. Ulquiorra was a very quiet child, and never cried. Ever.

It was a bit unnerving, since she had been taken off duty so she could care for her son, but there really wasn't that much to do. Most of the time he slept, but she noted that her little Ulqui was very curious. He didn't really explore, but like to look at things, and occasionally touch them. She bought him several stuffed animals, but he never played with them, except for a black bat plush, and even then, he never played with it…he just hugged it to his small figure.

She sighed softly and put him in his cradle. It had been nearly seven months since she had been in the Kurosaki clinic, seven months since she gave birth to her first son, and seven months since she found out that he was Ulquiorra Schiffer reincarnated.

Ichigo had asked her where she wanted to have the child, and they finally agreed on Ichigo's old home. Now they lived in Soul Society, within the Seireitei, very close to the Kuchiki manner. It was a large house on a hill, over-looking the Seireitei. Sometimes she'd bring Ulqui to the sliding door screen, and point to various places from their view and talked about them. She knew that it could be a while before he started talking or even walking, she somehow got the feeling that he was _aware_. It almost scared her.

Though before they had come back from the world of the living, she had met with Uryu and Orihime. The young human couple currently had no children of their own, but it brought tears to Orihime's eyes to see Ulquiorra, and she could've sworn she saw something somewhat like it buried in Uryu's deep blue eyes. She knew that they must be feeling something similar to what Ichigo had felt when he first discovered who their son…_had been._

Rukia desperately clung to the 'had been' part. She loved Ulqui with all her heart, but sometimes it scared her to think what he might become. He already had been checked by Unohana, who said that he would 'take after his father' as far as his powers as a shinigami went. Rukia took the captain's statement to mean that her son would be a Vizard. She wasn't thrilled about the fact, but she wasn't disgusted or disappointed either. Her feelings about it conflicted now and then, but were overall neutral.

Though aside from all the worries that came with the fact of her son being the reincarnation of the fourth Espada in Aizen's army, there were also other concerns as well. One of the first among her many worries about her son's was speech. He never made a sound, no matter how hungry, or how displeased he was. She had asked Unohana about this, and she said that his vocals and voice box were fine, and that he could just be an exceptionally quiet child. Another thing that concerned her was his lack of movement. He seemed quite curious about the world around him, but never really bothered to move around much. She didn't mention this to Unohana, and she knew she was over stressing.

'_This isn't like me…but since the childbirth I've just felt a bit on-edge. Maybe when I go back to work I'll start to feel better.'_ she thought as she sat down and picked up a book she had been reading before. It was on parenting basics and how to raise your child.

Rukia must've lost track of time while reading, because she was startled when she heard the front door click. She looked up and saw Ichigo walked in.

Even though they had been together for several years already, and Ichigo had been made a captain before that, she still couldn't get over the white haori with squad five's insignia on it. She knew it was stupid, but it somehow made Ichigo look more mature, in a handsome (Rukia would only admit this when they were alone or to herself, but she thought that somehow the added white cloth made him look even sexier) way. That and it just fit perfectly. Not the actual cloth…but what it represented.

"Good evening. I see that your comfortable." he said, referring to her sitting in one of the softer, deeper seated chairs that was much like a recliner. She was sitting cross legged and lying back slightly with the book in her lap.

"So how was work today? Having trouble without me there?" she asked, smirking slightly as she rose from the chair and wrapped her arms around her husband, looking up at him lovingly. He cupped her face with one hand, and wrapped his other arm around her waist, leaning down for a kiss. Though they suddenly jumped when they were inches apart when they heard something.

"What was that?" Rukia asked, startled by the sudden noise. She went into their bedroom, which also held Ulqui's cradle, and saw that the infant was awake, and had banged one of his toys against the wall. Rukia blinked in shock, and wondered why he would do this. She started to understand when Ulqui reached out to her. Maybe he was hungry.

Ichigo was now standing by her side.

"I think Ulqui might be hungry. I'll go get his bottle, but you just hold him while I do that." she said quickly, and walked out of the room. Ichigo stared after her for a moment before turning to his son.

He picked him up and cradled him, thinking. Seven months seemed to have flown by, though he still hadn't told Rukia about…well…the move. The head captain thought it would be best if Ulquiorra never remembered his past life, because if he did, he might side with Aizen once more, and the former captain's army would be complete once more. Though Ichigo knew better, that there was a deeper reason why the Winter War had suddenly been called off by Aizen. It brought back that memory…of a long time ago…

"_Please! Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone without you!"_

"_You still have Grimmjow. I know he's still alive…and the other Espada will be revived as well…"_

"_No! I love you, Ulquiorra! Please, Orihime," she turned desperately to the orange haired girl, "Please do something for him!"_

"…_I can't reject…I can't heal him. His reiatsu is too strong for me." she said, tears in her eyes too. She started to sob._

"_Please…Ulquiorra…don't die. I need you." she whispered, shaking from the emotion and having to keep herself from squeezing his hand, which suddenly seemed so fragile and delicate as it turned to ash in her light grip._

"_I love you too…though I was foolish…should've listened to what you said." he shook his head, as part of his face dissolved, and then the rest of his body, leaving just some of his head._

"_I love you." _

_And then nothing. The rest of him had dissolved into ash, leaving only an echo of his words in their heads. The girl turned on Ichigo._

"_THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! YOU __**MURDERED**__ HIM!!!" she cried, falling to her knees in desperation. Ichigo was too stunned to speak. He had just witnessed something devastatingly heart breaking. Thoughts raced through his mind, though one thought stuck stubbornly._

'_What if that had been Rukia and I?'_

Ichigo stopped thinking of the past. That had happened long ago…and this was his second chance, in a way.

Rukia came back in with the bottle.

"Okay here. I found it finally." she said, and shook it slightly before taking Ulquiorra from Ichigo. Ichigo breathed deeply before trying to sum up the courage to tell his wife what needed to be told.

"Rukia…you know now that the captains know about our child…being Ulquiorra reincarnated…well, you see the head captain has decided that it would be best to go back to Karakura and raise Ulquiorra there, since growing up in the Seireitei might reawaken his memories as a hollow. And the head captain was worried that if he remembered anything…that…he might go back to Aizen, thus starting the war again." Ichigo said, and waited for Rukia to hit or yell at him. On the contrary, she seemed to take the news quite well.

"And when will we be going back?" she asked calmly, not looking at him

"Oh, well, in about a month." he said, relieved that she was taking the news so good. He had put off telling her about this for nearly two whole months. Perhaps childbirth did soften women up some.

He watched as she finished feeding him, and then burped him (even though he never really needed to be burped, and usually struggled when she gently patted his back), and then set him back down in his cradle. And then Ichigo doubled over, wincing.

"I already _know_ that, and the fact that you haven't told me for nearly a month and a half or more." she growled, glaring at him.

"Did Byakuya-"

"Yes, yes he did. And why did you put this off? You've waited up until the last minute to tell me!" she huffed, crossing her arms. From the cradle, Ulquiorra watched his parents with a sort of detached interest, hugging his black bat plush to his small body.

"I just knew that since you were off duty for so long…I was just afraid that you'd be less than happy about the news." he said, still rubbing his midsection. Even after being off duty for seven months, Rukia's punches and kicks still hurt like hell. Guess he was wrong about the whole childbirth thing.

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**6 years and 5 months later…**

Ulquiorra Kurosaki listened to his teacher babble on about some nonsense that had to do with feelings and emotions. The woman who was his teacher had orange hair like his father's, only it wasn't as bright a shade, and his father was a doctor, not some insane teacher. Finally, the bell rung, signaling the end of the school day. Ulquiorra grabbed his small bag, but instead of joining the throng of children at the door, he waited in the back. He hated being close to people, and he hated being touched.

"Ulquiorra!" the teacher called out. The child looked dully back at the perky teacher. The child decided that there was something definitely wrong with that woman.

"Would you please come over here for a minute?" she asked, smiling.

Ulquiorra didn't nod or say a word, but just walked over to her desk.

"So, how was your first day at school? Did you enjoy it?" she asked energetically as she straightened some papers on her desk. It looked like something from a movie.

"…It…was fine." he said. He honestly didn't hate school, and unlike some children, who were lazy, didn't hate learning or work. He just disliked this woman who would be his teacher.

"Really? Just fine? Well, tomorrow we'll start reading Snow White and the Seven Dwarves-" Ulquiorra ignored most of her babble, and glanced up at the clock.

"Mrs. Ishida? May I please go?" he asked, trying to sound polite. This would be his teacher for the rest of the year, after all.

"Oh yes! Certainly Ulqui. And say hello to your mother for me." she said, and then started to work on some papers. Ulquiorra left quickly, not wanting to stay with the insane woman any longer.

When he got outside, he saw his mother waiting for him.

"So, how was-"

"It was fine." he said stoically, cutting her off. He was quite sick of the question, because Mrs. Ishida hadn't been the first to ask.

"Oh. So did you make any new friends?" she asked

"I don't need friends." he said, retaining a very un-child-like monotone.

"Oh, now don't say that! Friends are always nice to have Ulqui." she said, messing his hair up a little. He glared at her, and she stopped. She held his hand when they were walking an approached a cross-walk, but he slipped it out of her grasp and into his pocket.

Rukia pretended not to notice this, even though it hurt. It made her feel emotionally detached from her son, and as if she had failed being a good mother too him. In the last eight months before leaving for Karakura again, she vowed that she would try her best to bring up Ulquiorra as best she could, and raise him to be different. Different from the person he had once been, but she felt as if she were already failing.

Ulquiorra could sense his mother's oblivious disappointment, and tried his best not to sigh. He slipped his hand back out of its pocket, and held her hand as the crossing light flashed. She looked back at him, shocked, and stared at him before he tugged at her hand and stepped off the curb. She smiled, and followed him, holding his hand all the way home.

When they got to their house, which doubled as a clinic, Ulquiorra went upstairs to his room. The boy was fiercely independent, and had become so quite oddly at a very young age. That, and Rukia noted somewhat sadly, that he was incredibly antisocial. He rarely spoke, though she did notice that the boy did have good manners.

Rukia sighed and wondered if he was going to grow up to be just like he was before, like the Ulquiorra that Ichigo had known so long ago.

She knew it was no use to worry over it, and went back to the kitchen so that she could finish some cleaning she had started, since she had taken the day off from work.

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Ulquiorra listened attentively when he heard the door open and then slam shut, followed by the heavy footsteps of his father. He climbed out of bed and went downstairs, where he could see his father in the kitchen. Ulquiorra watched as his father snooped through the fridge, and grabbed the carton of milk. Ulquiorra hated it when people drank straight out of the carton, especially one he would be getting his milk from too.

So he announced his presence by nudging the chair closest to him, making a loud scraping noise.

His father jumped, cursing, and whirled around only to see his son standing in the shadows.

"Oh god, you gave me quite a scare Ulquiorra." his father said, and placed a hand over his heart, breathing hard.

"…Father…there's something I wanted to talk to you about." the young boy said, pulling up a chair and sitting at the table. His father mimicked him, still holding the milk carton.

"Fire away." he said, before raising the carton his mouth, and gulping down the white liquid. Ulquiorra bit the inside of his cheek in slight distaste, but didn't voice it.

"What are shinigami?" the boy asked, and the answer he got was a face full of milk, since his father accidentally spewed it all over him from sheer shock, and coughed and gagged.

Ulquiorra ignored this, and just sat there, dripping and wet. It was quite unpleasant.

Once the doctor had managed to stop coughing, he looked across the table at his son, who was practically soaked.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ulqui! Here let me grab a towel." his father got up hurriedly, and grabbed towel from the counter. He walked over to Ulquiorra, and dabbed his son gently with it.

"I'm sorry Ulqui, I didn't mean to-" Ichigo started, but the boy snatched the towel out of his grip, and glared at him.

"Do not touch me, and do not call me by that ridiculous name! My name is Ulquiorra, not 'Ulqui', and I have _not_ given you nor anyone else to call me as such." the boy snapped, and hopped of the chair, glaring fiercely at his father with an intensity that no child, no matter how angry or upset they were, could produce.

"And never spew your backwash milk at me again!" he snarled, shoving the towel at his father, and quite roughly. Ichigo would've been shocked at his strength, but was too shocked by what the boy had just said, and merely watched the boy retreat upstairs to his room.

He numbly looked at the towel that his son had thrust at him, and then looked up when he heard a noise. He saw Rukia leaning against the door frame. She walked over to him, and knelt by him, wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders. It was just then that he realized that she was crying.

"I feel like I've failed as a parent, Ichigo." she cried softly, as she buried her face into his chest.

"I'm _scared_ of him. And his eyes are horrible, their like an adult's, but I love him because he's my son. I feel like I've been a horrible mother." she cried.

Ichigo didn't know what to say. He never gave much thought as to how the boy felt, since he never really showed any emotion. As far as Ichigo could remember, his son had never smiled or laughed. He had never cried once, ever. He had never shown any emotion, and if he did, it was always irritation, or anger, yet it was controlled. His son was mature beyond his years, but this was just…

Ichigo soothed his wife and rubbed circles on her back. He knew how she felt. Orihime and Uryu had a three year old child named Sora. He already knew that the human couple wouldn't be having this kind of trouble with their child.

Ichigo Kurosaki had no idea of what to do. If he didn't know any better, he would've said that his own son hated him. Hell, maybe he did. He never remembered Ulquiorra as an arrancar displaying anything other than a slight curiosity in humans. That, and once when Ichigo had pushed the arrancar past his breaking point, and his expression actually changed. Other than that, Ichigo only remembered the arrancar looking slightly surprised, usually if Ichigo did something unexpected, and that was it. Orihime said that she never saw the arrancar change his facial expression either.

Ulquiorra Schiffer had truly been devoid of nearly any emotion what so ever.

Though…Ichigo did faintly remember talking to Grimmjow before they left Hueco Mundo.

"_I swear up and down all of Las Noches that there was only one time I saw him crack a smile. It was when SHE got really depressed over somethin' totally stupid…can't remember what…but any way, Ulquiorra started to tickle her, and then she tickled him back, and he actually smiled. And then he laughed. I thought the whole damn world was endin'…but…those two really got along good. I followed them all over Las Noches, cuz' I was either following Ulquiorra, who was being followed by her, or I was following her, who was being stalked by Ulquiorra."_

"_I feel…I feel so horrible." Ichigo said, looking down at his feet and the white sand._

"_Hey…Ichigo…don't beat yourself up over this. I'm sure she'll come back sooner or later…she's just upset now, and you can't blame the poor girl. Though I have to say, me and Emospada never got along real great…I still miss him. He was a real pain…but you said he dissolved into ashes? Damn that's gotta suck…I actually feel kinda sorry for the guy…" Grimmjow said, kicking at the sand._

"_Yeah…and it's all my fault." Ichigo whispered, feeling even worse after hearing that from Grimmjow. He was no better than the hollow that had killed his mother. He had stolen someone away from a person, a person who cared very deeply for the one that Ichigo killed._

"_Ya know…right before she left…she told me she loved him. I wasn't really shocked…but jeez, you shoulda heard that way she said it." the blue haired Espada muttered, sticking his hands in his pockets, which suddenly reminded him of Ulquiorra._

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When Ichigo heard the scrape of the chair across from him. He didn't look up from his paper, but kept it in front of him, blocking his view of the person sitting across from him. The only other sounds in the kitchen were the sounds of breakfast being made. Food sizzling on the stove, milk or orange juice being poured into glasses and then set down on the table, or the crunch of cereal being eaten.

Aside from that, there was nothing other than silence.

No one said a word.

…

It was very awkward.

Though, it was the person both Ichigo and Rukia would least expect to speak up, who spoke up.

"I apologize for my actions last night, father. Please excuse my disrespect towards you, I did not mean it." the boy said. Ichigo set his paper aside, and looked at the child sitting across from him.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't have spit milk all over you either, Ulquiorra." Ichigo said apologetically, reaching over and ruffling the boy's already messy jet black hair.

Ulquiorra glared at him, and Ichigo quickly withdrew his hand when he remembered what the child had said last night.

Rukia smiled as she set breakfast down on the table for all of them. Maybe they could make this work out, this whole family thing. Besides, she knew from Ichigo that from everything he had heard, seen, and been told about, that the fourth Espada was not completely devoid of any emotions what so ever.

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	3. Remembering

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

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Ulquiorra fought the urge to tear his hand out of his mother's grasp. It seemed that she had taken his sudden change of attitude as an excuse to hold his hand when they walked to and from school. He had already insisted that he didn't need to be walked to school, yet his parents ignored what he had told them, and so his mother walked him to school. And she would for the rest of the year, since she was now working part-time.

His mother though, seemed oblivious to her son's displeasure, and kept walking along side him, holding his hand. When they finally arrived at school, she bent down so she was eye-level with him.

"Did you remember all your stuff? Your pencil, notebook-"

"Yes, I remembered everything." the young boy said

His mother nodded, and then hugged him.

"Well then have a good day, Ulquiorra." she said, and hugged him. Ulquiorra felt something inside of him stir. One part of him wanted to push her away roughly and tell her what a piece of trash she was. Another part wanted to _smile_ and return the hug. He was confused about what to do, so he simply stood there and allowed her to hug him, unmoving.

When she let go, he turned his back on her and walked off.

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Ulquiorra listened carefully as his teacher gave them their first project of the school year. It was quite simple. All they had to do was select a new book and read it, and then write a summary on it. And for extra credit they could make a list of things they liked about the book.

"And remember class, pick out a book that you think you'll like. It doesn't have to be very long either." Mrs. Ishida said as the bell rang and kids crowded at the door. Ulquiorra hurried into the hallway, but stopped when he was just a few feet away from the classroom. The books that his grade read were far below his reading level. He had learned how to read by teaching himself and going over his father's medical books and old reports. As a result, he was at high school level, and he didn't feel like reading something stupid and below him. He didn't want _trash._

He thought of going to the library, and then remembered his mother was outside waiting for him. She would only slow him down, and would probably want to wait until tomorrow to take him to the library. He didn't want to wait for a book. So, he made the decision of going the opposite way, in the back of the school, and headed off towards the public library.

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Rukia bit her lip as she waited for Ulquiorra. What was taking that boy so long? School had been out for nearly half an hour, and she hadn't seen any sign of her child. She was standing by the school's main entrance where she would always pick him up. There was no way Ulquiorra had gotten lost. And he couldn't have stayed after class _this_ long, could he?

By now there were no students or parents, and Rukia was just standing there by herself. She was starting to fear that something horrible had happened, but told herself to stay calm.

'_I must remain calm. I can just call Orihime, and ask her if Ulquiorra's staying after class.'_ Rukia thought as she flipped her cellphone open and dialed Orihime's number. She waited anxiously as it rung, until her friend picked up.

"_Hello? Rukia?"_ Orihime asked

"Yes, hello Orihime. I'm waiting for Ulquiorra, and I was just wondering if you were keeping him after for something…" she said, trailing off.

"_What? You mean you're still waiting? I saw him leave with the other children half an hour ago."_ the woman said

"What?! Really? On no…this isn't good." Rukia muttered. Not good was an understatement. Who knows what could happen to her son when he was on his own? Thugs or a hollow could attack him. Someone off the street might try to kidnap him. He was in terrible danger, especially for such a young child.

"_Oh no! Is there anything I can do to help?"_ Orihime asked

"No, it's fine. I'll find him, but thanks for telling me about this." Rukia said, and then hung up. She started to dial another number and waited until the person picked up as she started walking away from the school quickly.

"_Hello?"_

"Ichigo, it's me. Ulquiorra's missing." the mother said as she broke out into a run.

___________________________________________

Ulquiorra disregarded the odd stares people were giving him as he searched in the teens section of the library. He picked out five books, all by the same author. It was hard to balance them all, especially since they were thick books, but he managed to make his way back to the check out desk, where he deposited the books.

The librarian frowned as she looked at him over the stack of books. She watched the child pull out a library card and hand it to her. She wordlessly accepted it, and then started to scan the books. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the boy pulled out a dollar bill, and waited for her to finish scanning them.

"I'd like to buy a book bag." he said, handing her the bill. The librarian nodded, took the bill, and exchanged it for a recyclable bag off the rack. She watched the child scoop the books neatly into the bag, and then start to walk off after she gave him back his card.

Ulquiorra ignored the burning pain that resulted from carrying all the books. Of all the times that he would actually need help carrying something…this had to be the time. But he just ignored it, and focused on getting home. He secretly hoped that he would be able to get home before his mother and father. That way he could have the house to himself, and just be alone in total peace and quiet. No listening to his mother run the vacuum cleaner, which was painfully loud. Or his father watching TV, and turning up the volume so loud that Ulquiorra could hear each and every thing that was said under his floorboards. Or their couple like bickering, which always, _always_ gave him a headache.

No.

None of that. If he could just get home before them…even fifteen minutes would be nice…

Ulquiorra walked quickly, ignoring the pain now forming in his leg from the book bag bouncing on his side. He hoped it didn't bruise, even though he knew it probably would. He kept going, not slowing down or stopping, but only breaking into a run when he saw the stop sign closest to his house.

When he reached the clinic, he was panting and out of breath, but was glad to see his father's car wasn't in the driveway. Ulquiorra went through the gate, and pulled a spare house key out of his pocket, and opened the door. He peeked inside.

"Hello?" he called out. No one answered.

He stepped inside, and looked around. No one was here. He was all alone.

Ulquiorra sighed in relief, and went up to his room, finally removing the bag and its contents. He had checked out the entire 'Twilight' saga, including another book by Myers, called 'The Host'. He was curious about Twilight since it was about vampires, or at least had some in it. One of his favorite novels about vampires were 'The House of Night' series, even though they made the main character into a whore. Yet he still enjoyed reading the books for some reason, even if Zoey acted like trash sometimes, and Heath was just a stupid human idiot.

Ulquiorra then remembered seeing a brown package on the kitchen table. He went back downstairs and saw that it was still sitting there, wrapped in brown package paper and tied with a white string.

He saw that there was nothing written on it. No address or anything. It was just a package.

Ulquiorra was about to turn his back on it, but he couldn't help but wonder what was in the package. He should've turned his back on it and gone back upstairs to read, but his curiosity got the best of him. He took a knife from the kitchen drawer, and cut the strings, letting the brown package paper fall off, revealing a fairly small cardboard box taped shut.

He picked the box up and rattled it, listening for noise. He heard none, except for a soft _thump_. He grabbed the knife once more and used it to cut a line in the tape holding the top of the box shut, and then used his fingers to pry the rest open as he set down the knife again.

Ulquiorra wasn't expecting what happened next.

"RUKIA!!!" someone yelled in an annoying male voice, and he was blinded by something soft.

"Rukia, I've missed you so much!" the same person exclaimed, and whatever was holding onto his face and blinding him tightened its grip. Ulquiorra stumbled back, ripping the thing on his face off and throwing it across the kitchen. His heart was pounding and he grabbed the knife, ready to defend himself as he looked around the table.

What he saw was a plush lion lying limply on the smooth tiled floor.

Ulquiorra blinked in shock. Was he seeing right?

Though the boy started to doubt his vision even more when the lion plush sprang up and looked around. And then it started talking.

"Rukia? Where's Rukia?" it said, and then caught sight of Ulquiorra holding the kitchen knife loosely, slack jawed, and eyes wide in shock.

"Who the hell are you? Wait a minute…Kisuke…he told me something about Ichigo and Rukia having a kid. I suppose you're Ulquiorra?" the plush lion asked, and then hopped up on the table.

"Hey kid, you can put the knife down. It's not like I'm gonna try to kill you or anything." it said, walking and looking around the kitchen. When Ulquiorra finally found his voice, he asked "Who are you? What are you?"

"Hm?" it turned around to face him, "I'm a mod-soul. A modified soul put in the body of a stuffed toy." it said as if that were completely normal.

"I'm sure Ichigo and Rukia have told you _loads_ about me and how I helped them in their adventures as shinigami! We fought against hollows, Bounts, arrancar, and even Soul Society itself! Haha, I remember when-"

"Shinigami? What do you mean? That's…those…are Death Gods…" he whispered. Something felt familiar about the word 'shinigami'. Something disgustingly, disgustingly familiar. So did the word arrancar, though he didn't feel the same way about it. The word felt familiar in a more…comforting way.

"Whada mean kid! Don't you know what a shinigami is? Have you even heard of a zanpakuto?!" the mod soul asked, waving its arms around and frowning at him.

"No." he said, and then looked at the mod soul, "Tell me. I need to know. The words sound…familiar."

"Man, Kisuke didn't tell me anything before he sent me here! And through the mail too! Jeez…but anyway kid…" the mod soul started to explain everything, and told Ulquiorra a story. Most people who would've listened would've been touched by the heroic feats of Ichigo Kurosaki and all his ventures, but Ulquiorra just grew sicker and sicker, and a hatred for the man he called father grew too. By the time the mod soul named Kon had reached near the end of the story, he started to slow down.

"And um…the end." Kon said nervously, but Ulquiorra knew better. His eyes narrowed at the mod soul.

"Not everyone 'lived happily ever after, the end'. You still never told me what happened to Ulquiorra Schiffer. I doubt my namesake came from him by coincidence or because my pathetic trash-like father felt sentimental when he saw me." Ulquiorra growled, grabbed the lion and squeezing him tight.

"Um…well…uh, _that_ Ulquiorra-"

"Died right? Ichigo Kurosaki killed him, rescued that incompetent woman, and left Hueco Mundo safely." Ulquiorra growled, and Kon just nodded.

"Uh…yeah…" Kon said nervously…inching away from the child when he let go of him.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes. He could faintly…faintly remember. That idiot wouldn't give up…and then suddenly…he changed…and…was hell bent on protecting that piece of trash…and then…stabbed Ulquiorra…and used a cero…and then…something else happened…and they watched him die. His teacher. His father. The Quincy. They watched as he faded away, suddenly helpless.

They watched him die. And one of them was responsible for it.

And the one man who killed him…he had been reborn as that man's son. O the irony…and…that stupid trashy shinigami…the Kuchiki…was his mother.

He felt an intense hatred for them, and hoped that they would die. Ulquiorra looked outside the window. It was dark outside, and yet they would still probably be looking for him. Stupid trash.

"Kon…did you say that you could disguise the reiatsu of someone?" he asked, already forming an idea in his head.

"Yep. It was a modification done by Kisuke-Hey, why did you wanna know?" the mod soul asked suddenly.

"Because I want you to take me to see Kisuke Urahara." he said, and grabbed the mod soul off the table, and started to walk towards the door, when he heard a click sound.

The door.

Ulquiorra desperately wished for his sonido as he ran upstairs, and into his room. He hid in the closet and whispered to Kon "Hide my reiatsu signature-I don't want them to know that _we're_ here, or in the house at all."

The mod soul frowned in the dark, but just nodded and did as he was told. Kisuke had told him to bring the kid back to the shop…God knows why though. This should've been a job for Ririn or Noba or Kurodo. Why did he have to get stuck babysitting the former fourth Espada.

They both heard voices downstairs, and Ulquiorra silently cursed himself for leaving the packaging on the table.

"Hey, what's this? A package…but it's already been opened. Ichigo, you don't think…he was here, do you? Maybe he's still here?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

'_No…just go away…I'm not here…I left, so go away.'_ he silently thought, briefly closing his eyes, as if willing it.

"I…I don't think so. I can't feel his reiatsu signature anywhere here, just traces of it. He must've come home earlier, and then left." the shinigami said, and he could hear him walking upstairs.

Ulquiorra hoped he wouldn't come into to his room, but didn't really mind as long as Kon kept hiding their presence. He wasn't sure what he would do if the orange haired man found him. Fight? No, that would be beyond foolish. He wouldn't stand a chance against him, not when he was in this weak, human, child's body. Ulquiorra was more than sure he could outsmart Ichigo Kurosaki…but fight? And especially with the Kuchiki by his side…

What if they did find him? Should he lie? Though Ulquiorra disliked lying, he wasn't about to tell his 'parents' that he remembered some of what happened, especially the dying part. How would they react when they knew that the fourth Espada had fully reawakened? Would they kill him? Lock him away? Hand him over to the thirteen court guard squads?

His thoughts raced as he heard his door creak open. The trash was coming in.

"Is he in there?" Ulquiorra heard the Kuchiki ask

"No." his 'father' replied, and then walked out of the room. Though Ulquiorra was suddenly suspicious. Why would the man just come and go? Even if he didn't feel Ulquiorra's presence, he should've at least checked the room more thoroughly to see if he was hiding somewhere. Ulquiorra knew something was wrong, because he knew that the trash wasn't _that_ foolish.

'_What's going on?'_ he wondered, and stood there in the dark, clutching the mod soul to his small, thin figure.

"…Did you feel that?" he heard the Kuchiki ask. Ulquiorra felt anger and panic as he glared at the mod soul, before throwing open the closet door. The mod soul scampered out just before Ulquiorra slammed the door shut and ran to the window. He heard footsteps, both light and heavy, rush up the stairs. Damn, the window was stuck fast or something.

That was when he realized the door was unlocked. Damn.

He ran back to the door, and clicked the lock into place just as someone tried to open it from the other side.

"Ulquiorra! Ulquiorra, open up, it's me, your father!" Ichigo yelled from the other side. Ulquiorra ignored this and ran back to the window, trying to get it unstuck. He finally succeeded just when he hear his father start talking again.

"I'm giving you until the count of five until I open this door!"

So he had a five second head start. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

"One."

Ulquiorra was climbing out the window

"Two."

Now he was on the roof. Damnit, he needed something to land on since he couldn't jump…but what about water pipe? Could he slide down that?

"Three."

He ran over to it and looked at it in distaste, but threw himself down it, sliding down. It stung his hands and made him bleed, but that was inconsequential now.

"Four."

He started to run the second he hit the ground. He wished so badly he could use sonido, or even shunpo…

"Five! Now I'm coming in!"

Ulquiorra was already at the stop sign. He felt like he was running for his life. Maybe he was. Stupid human child's body…what trash.

Back at the clinic, Ichigo had opened the door, only to discover his son missing and an open window. Ichigo cursed under his breath, and then jumped out the window himself in pursuit of his son.


	4. Runaway

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach.

________________________

It was raining.

It was raining…and he was running blindly in the dark, occasionally running under street lamp, the golden yellow light briefly illuminating his features before he darted out of its rays.

Finally he tripped, and he could go no further. He had pushed this body to its limit.

If he died here, it wouldn't be so bad. Hopefully he wouldn't be reborn again, and could just go to the Soul Society. But something briefly sparked in his chest, like a hint of warmth.

He could see his reflection in a puddle close to him.

'_Who am I?'_ he wondered. Did he actually _care_ about those stupid pieces of trash, back in that trashy clinic of a house? Did he honestly care for the people who were supposed to be his parents?

He didn't. …Right?

'_Who am I? Ulquiorra Schiffer or Ulquiorra Kurosaki?'_ he thought, as he looked into the water. He could almost see the older, mature, arrancar version of himself versus the weak child he had become.

'_Look at me. I'm nothing but trash now. And it wasn't after I was reborn to the Kurosaki's. It's been like this ever since that fight…or maybe even ever since I met Ichigo Kurosaki. Something in me…changed. I wasn't Ulquiorra Schiffer anymore. I was someone else…or…no…but then………………………how was it…that I even lost to a human turned hollow in the first place? And then…near the end…someone was crying…a girl…not that stupid woman…but someone…else…'_ he thought, as he laid his head down. He felt hot liquid coming out of his eyes. He was crying.

'_Who am I? Who have I become?'_ he thought, and closed his eyes. He got back up, soaking clothes weighing him down, but he was determined to keep going. If he stopped, what would he have left? He started walking instead of running this time. He didn't know how long it was before it stopped raining. He was a little thankful for it to have stopped, though he kept walking. He didn't really look to see where he was going, as long as he didn't hit a dead end.

He kept going and going, and just when he wondered how long it had been, he heard something. Ulquiorra turned around to see Ichigo Kurosaki standing there, worry written all over his face.

"Oh god! There you are Ulquiorra! Your mother and I have been searching all over town for you." the man said as he hurriedly rushed forward. Ulquiorra saw that he was in a dark robe, which meant that he was in his shinigami form. He also noticed that he was soaking wet too.

Ichigo pulled a plastic bag out of his robe and undid it, producing a dry towel for the child.

"Here, let me dry you off some. God, I hope you don't get hypothermia-"

"Leave me alone." Ulquiorra said, pushing the towel away. It was warm from his father's body heat, but it could be as hot and dry as the sun for all he cared, and he still wouldn't want it.

"Ulquiorra, you're soaking wet and you've been walking for hours in the rain. You're going to get very ill as it is, and on top of it all you're going to be in a lot of trouble as it is-"

"WHY DO YOU CARE!?" he screamed, shoving the man away from him, and looking away as he felt tears running down his face again.

Ichigo looked at him in shock, but then dabbed the towel at his face, wiping away his tears before wrapping the towel around his and picking him up.

"Because you're my son and I love, Ulquiorra." Ichigo said gently as he started to walk in the direction of the clinic, which was miles away, though he thought that it would be best to just walk for a while.

"…That's stupid and illogical. You'll have to do better than that." Ulquiorra said

Ichigo forced a nervous laugh.

"I don't know what you mean by that-"

"Stop pretending. I know that you must be aware of who I am. Or rather who I was." he said bitterly.

"I know exactly who you are. You're Ulquiorra Kurosaki, and you're in a hell lot of trouble when we get back home for running off like that." Ichigo said sternly

"You're such a fool. Are you truly going to overlook _that_ fact just because I was reborn as your child?"

"…" Ichigo said nothing, but stopped and set Ulquiorra down. The child glared at him fiercely, but there was something pitiful about it, as if he just didn't really have enough fight in him anymore.

"Ulquiorra Schiffer, former Cuarta Espada of Aizen Sosuke's army, I apologize for the fact that you were reborn and got stuck with me as your father, but until your old enough to take care of yourself, move out, or go back to Las Noches, please bear with me for the time being. I know you must hate me and that you probably want to strangle me or slip poison into my morning coffee or dinner, but if you could at least just wait a while…At least wait until Rukia and I fight up to the point where she won't feel so sad if I die…"

"…And even if I did go along with this, why would you overlook all the things I've done in the past? Do you remember who stabbed you and nearly killed you? Who was responsible for kidnapping one of your friends and delivering her to Aizen? Do you remember who it was that nearly killed you twice and who it was who served Aizen so faithfully? Are you willing to overlook the fact that not everything I did was an order for Aizen, and that I psychologically tortured that woman for my own interest? That I would've killed you even if Aizen had not ordered me too? Are you saying that you'll forget all of that?" Ulquiorra asked. He no longer sounded tired, or sad like before, but more like the cold, calculating, ruthlessly realistic Espada he was before.

"…I will, and have…because you were reborn anew, as a new person, and with a fresh start. Rukia and I both agreed that we would never talk about your past and that we would never hold it against you."

"Why?" the child demanded

"…Because…we love you. You're our son now, and it doesn't matter to me who you were before. What matters to me is who you are now. And besides…I like to think of this as a chance to bond with you."

"…Bond with me?"

"Yep."

"Should I even begin to question why?". Oh yeah. That was definitely Ulquiorra, the heartless, analytical, and cold Espada.

"Well, before…"

"You killed me." he finished.

"Well…yes…I always thought…that we were a bit alike." Ichigo said, rubbing the back of his head.

"…"

"…"

"…Did you have a concussion? Or are you delusional?"

"Well…give me a break! You were always showing up and fighting me!" he said, and then sighed, "Though…why was it that you never tried killing me before? Well, I don't mean now, but um…before our final battle? You didn't kill me the first time we met…if you want to call it meeting, but still. You said that I wasn't worth killing. And then the next time, when we fought, you let me live. You didn't go for my soul chain or heart. And then the last time we fought…before you used your Segunda Etapa, you acted as if you would let me live if I forfeited. It's like you never really wanted to kill me…why?"

"Do you want the answer with your coffee or dinner?" the boy asked, and Ichigo could pick up a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. He was no longer looking away, but straight at Ichigo.

"When we first met, I sensed that your spiritual pressure fluctuated wildly, from nothing but trash to something even stronger than my own at the time. I…was curious as to why, and let you live that time because I thought that you might be able to stabilize the power, and that it might benefit to Aizen in the near future. I let you live during our first actual fight because I knew that you could become stronger with that mask. I knew that if you battled a few arrancar, maybe even a lower-ranking Espada, that it might help you master it more. The only reason I tried to kill you the last time, was because I lost my interest in you, and I thought that your growth had stopped. I was curious to see if you could defeat me…though my downfall was underestimating you. I was shocked and unable to think straight after you got up again." he admitted.

Ichigo let that sink in, before wrapping his arms around Ulquiorra, and picking him up.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked coldly.

"I'm carrying you home. And don't forget that you're in a lot of trouble when we get back to the house! Your mother will be so worried…and look, it's almost dawn. I guess you won't be going to school…today." Ichigo sighed as he started walking again.

"You don't mind if I use shunpo to get back, do you?" Ichigo asked, and the boy shook his head. Ichigo shunpoed back to the house, and slowed down when they got to the gate. He flew over it, and set Ulquiorra down before he opened the door.

"Okay Ulquiorra. You'll be staying home from school, but don't think that you're getting off the hook that easily….though, uh…I was just wondering what kind of books were in that book bag." Ichigo said, clearing his throat a bit.

"…" Ulquiorra wasn't exactly thrilled about the 'punishment' so he decided to jerk Ichigo around a bit.

"Pornography." he said, and Ichigo's eyes widened comically.

"WHAT???" he screamed

"I was joking. It's the Twilight saga." Ulquiorra said, rolling his eyes. He couldn't help but smirking a bit though, which was very unlike him, though he did have his moments.

"You better be just joking! Dear lord, I nearly had a heart attack! And that's not funny!" Ichigo huffed when he saw Ulquiorra smirking. But it wasn't really a light-hearted sort of smile. It was more cynical, as if the boy _had_ been hoping that he would keel over.

"Good god…" he shook his head and sighed, "Let's go in before your mother ends up busting down the door. I'm sure she's very worried about you.". And then he opened the door.

Worried was an understatement.

"Ulquiorra Daisuke Kurosaki, where in god's name have you been?! We searched all over town and didn't find a single trace of you, and then you ran away from home after you left me there in front of the school too!" she cried, hugging him, or rather choking/smothering him.

"And look at you! You're soaking wet, and cold, and you need to be dried off, and we can't send you too school because you need to catch up on sleep, and I have to take the day off today, and you'll probably be so sick you can't go to school tomorrow…" Rukia trailed off nervously, and then hugged him tighter.

"Oh Ulquiorra where have you been?!" she sobbed. When Ulquiorra got a good look at her, he saw that she had been crying a lot.

"I'm fine, mother." he said, ignoring most of her questions, and then he remembered something. Urahara. Ulquiorra looked at the rising sun before deciding that he would do it later…preferably when he was dry.

"No you're not! You're wet and…oh god, look at your hands!" she exclaimed, holding up one of his raw, scraped palms.

"I fell." he said simply. Well, he wasn't really lying. He had tripped and fallen.

Rukia looked at him doubtfully, but just picked him up and hugged him close to her.

"I was so scared that something horrible might happen to you." she whispered, hugging him closer to her. And then-

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?!"

____________________________________

Ulquiorra sat on his bed, wrapped in a blanket, while his father, who was in his gigai again, was putting a lock on Ulquiorra's window.

"Have either of you, as my loving parents, thought about how this could be…I don't know…potentially dangerous?" he asked sarcastically.

"I mean, what if there was a fire? And I couldn't break the window open? And the smoke started to suffocate me, making me die a slow and painful death. Wouldn't you feel a bit guilty about trapping me then? And technically that would be the second time you've killed me, wouldn't it?" he asked.

"I'm not taking this lock off for a while, until you prove that you won't run away again. And secondly, what the hell has gotten into you?" Ichigo demanded

"Bitchy Bella and her continuous whining, and that pathetic excuse of a vampire called Edward Cullen. Not only that, but Bella lacks the ability to see the oblivious and also seems to ruin everything. So far, I've figured that Bella has poor self-esteem, is nigh incapable of looking after herself, and is probably the kind of woman who goes and looks at a picture of herself and says 'Oh look at me, I'm so fat' or 'My left boob is sagging'. Tut tut tut, Miss Myers." Ichigo was very surprised at how disgusted and passionate Ulquiorra seemed in his hatred for the book. Ichigo guessed he should just be glad that it wasn't being directed at him.

"So…I take it that you're not enjoying the book?" Ichigo asked. Did the series turn young people into emos and/or pessimists? He didn't want Ulquiorra to be emo. Again.

"No, this series does not turn people who read it into emos or pessimists, and for your information I was _not_ emo. I may have had tears track birth marks as an arrancar, but that didn't mean I cut myself when no one was looking. I didn't read your mind I could just guess what you were thinking. You're quite predictable and easy to read. And I enjoy reading the book for the sake of reading…but this book is just trash." the boy said, leaning back a little.

Ichigo was at loss for words. Was he really that easy to read? He silently went downstairs to talk to Rukia. He wasn't that easy to read…was he?

Ulquiorra hopped off the bed and closed the door. Now Ichigo would go downstairs, talk to Rukia about how insecure he felt about the 'easy to read' thing, and then they would probably argue and make up in five minutes. And then Ichigo would want to go back up to Ulquiorra and probably talk to him some more about how long he was grounded, but Rukia would stop him half way up the stairs, saying something along the lines of him needing more sleep. Ulquiorra looked outside and saw in was only noon, just hours since he had come back. He didn't want to put off his visit to the shop keeper any longer.

So he grabbed something from his drawer. It was a lock pick.

Before he died, Ulquiorra had been quite proficient at picking locks. It was a talent that seemed to come in handy now and then, especially when you couldn't fire a cero at the wall.

Ulquiorra had the lock off in less than a minute.

He slid the window open slowly, listening to what was happening downstairs. Yes, they were arguing now, he could hear it quite well.

He left the window open on purpose, and walked out onto the roof, careful not to make too much noise. He glared at the drainage pipe running down the wall, but knew he had no other choice. He slid down it, feeling his hands start to bleed again, but he ignored the pain, and peeked through the window. He could see that they had made up(quicker than he anticipated)and he saw his mother stopping his father. Good, everything was going according to plan…

Wait.

His father was going upstairs anyway. Damn.

Ulquiorra took off sprinting for his life. Five, four, three, two, one-

"ULQUIORRA DAISUKE KUROSAKI!!!"

Ulquiorra just rounded the corner, and sped up, running as fast as he could. Wait…he had no idea where the shop was. But he didn't stop. He'd be dead if he stopped. Like spend the rest of eternity being grounded dead.

He was nearly out of breath when he saw a black cat. He didn't know why, but it looked familiar. Maybe it was because it was a cat. Cats reminded him of Grimmjow.

It started to trot away, and for some unknown he followed it. He didn't know why, but he followed the cat. After a few minutes of running, he couldn't keep up, and stopped. He looked around, and saw nothing but a small plot of land, which was empty, except for a small shop.

It looked like an older store, and had a type of abandoned air about it, as if it hadn't ever had many customers. The black cat was going inside.

Ulquiorra crossed the line of dirt and pavement, stopping just a few yards away from the shop. Could this be the place that he was looking for? He tried to remember this place but couldn't. Not all of his memories had come back yet. It wasn't like what most people thought, when there was something that triggered your memories, and then a flash, and then you had all your recollections of before back. No, for him, everything was coming back slowly, like water draining from an upside down tub.

Ulquiorra was about to close the distance between him and the store, when a hand clasped firmly on his shoulder. He turned around to see a less than happy looking Ichigo in his shinigami form.

"So, tell me something." he said, a twitch above his left eye, "Did anything I say to you in the past few hours have any effect on you what so ever?! Have you already forgotten that you're grounded?! And how the hell did you get that lock off the window?!"

"…I'm aware of the recent events and my punishment, and my hearing is perfect. And I picked the lock. It was easy and took less than a minute." Ulquiorra said, waiting for the man's reaction. He wanted to see how he would react to the 'lock picking' part.

"Well, I know that your-wait…WHAT??? You _picked the lock?!_" he nearly screeched, eyes bulging.

"Yes. I can pick locks with a certain degree of proficiency." Ulquiorra said. He did take _some_ pride in his skills.

"I can't believe you. And when did you learn this horrible skill?" Ichigo asked, putting a hand on his hip

"Before I died. And I don't see what's so horrible about it." Ulquiorra said, and then turned his back on his father, and started walking towards the shop again. As if sensing his intentions, his father stopped him.

"Oh no. You're not going in there-" he let go of Ulquiorra all together and fell to the ground. Ulquiorra saw a red haired boy whose fierce expression reminded him something of Grimmjow. He also observed that the boy had a huge iron bat, and Ulquiorra was assuming that was what Ichigo had been hit with.

"Your reflexes have dulled old man." Ulquiorra said before going into the shop. He entered slowly, with the air of one who was cautious and possibly expecting an attack. He saw at the back of the store, sitting on a matt was the man he came to see.

"Kisuke Urahra." he said softly, and the said man grinned at Ulquiorra.

"Well hello there Ulquiorra! It's been a long time since I've seen you! Last time I saw you, you had just been born! Seven years passes by real quick doesn't it?" the man asked, snapping a white fan open.

"…" he didn't say anything.

"And I guess since you've come here that means you've got most of your memories back, right?"

"Yes…most." he said

"Ah, well good then! So what can I do for you on this fine day?" the shop keeper asked cheerfully

"I want to train to regain my former strength…and my powers as an arrancar, if it's possible."

"And may I ask why? You aren't going to go running back to Aizen after I train you, will you?" the man asked in a lower tone of voice. The black cat behind him hissed in distaste at the sound of the former shinigami's name.

"I don't know yet. All I know is that there's someone I must find." he said, and it was true. That girl…the one who cried out to him before he died…he remembered her now.

"Well, I'm sure you don't need your former strength to find and impress this girl." Kisuke said, waving his fan

"I'm not exactly sure _why_ I want my former powers again…but I don't want to be trash anymore. I don't want to be a human or a shinigami. I want to be an arrancar…because it just feels right." he said slowly. That was true too. He just _knew_ that it would feel right…to have his former powers as an Espada again…

"Well then…I guess there's no discouraging you from this task. I can train you to the point where you would be level with our former powers as a shinigami, but…"

"What?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Well, hollowfication of a shinigami ends in the creation of a Vizard, whereas the shinigamification of a hollow makes an arrancar."

"Are you saying that I'll never be able to become an arrancar?" Ulquiorra asked sharply. He didn't want to stay a shinigami for long.

"Well, I'm saying is that the process of making a Vizard is risky enough, but the process of making an arrancar from a shinigami…is nearly insane. Though it can be done. First, you'll have to train until you've nearly equaled the strength and power of your former self. Then, we would put you through the Shattered Shaft training, and let you hollowify all the way. You see, a long time ago, in preparation for this kind of event, I stored some of the Hogyoku's energy inside a similar device. Call it a one-time use Hogyoku if you will…but, with this energy I've stored, it will be like using the Hogyoku at 100 percent. So if you do go through with this…you may end up stronger than before. I hope there's not a problem with that." the shop keeper said, still fanning himself lightly

"No, there isn't. I just need to protect this girl…once I find her. I can't let her down again. When do we start training?"

"I thought you'd never ask." the shop keeper smirked

____________________________________


	5. Runaway 2?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

_________________________________

Ichigo blinked groggily as he sat up. He rubbed his head and looked around, trying to remember what happened. Oh yeah, he had come here in search of Ulquiorra, but got hit on the head with something and blacked out. It was then that he saw someone standing in front of him. It was Ulquiorra.

"So you're finally awake." he said, hands shoved inside his pockets. As always.

"…Yeah…who or what hit me?" Ichigo asked, rubbing the back of his head. He grimaced as he felt a lump there.

"The redheaded child with the oversized metal bat." Ulquiorra said as he looked at the last streaks of sun fading away as inky blackness crept over the sky like vines of ivy, darkening the world.

"Oh…wait…I remember now! You snuck out of the house! Again!" Ichigo shouted, still rubbing his head.

"…We…should go back now." Ulquiorra said, taking a few steps. He blinked rapidly, but Ichigo didn't see this since the boy had his back turned to him.

Ulquiorra felt fatigue creeping up on him like the darkness in the sky. It seemed so tempting to just close his eyes and drift away…. His vision blurred and he felt his legs begin to shake as if they would give out. By now Ichigo was standing up again, and noticed the boy had stopped.

'_Damn.'_ Ulquiorra thought as the ground rushed up at him all too fast. He expected to feel a new surge of pain as he fell, but only felt strong arms wrap around his midsection and hoist him up. He could hear a voice, but it suddenly seemed so far away and unimportant.

"Ulquiorra!" Ichigo shouted, and gently shook his son as he laid him down.

"Ugh, you're overreacting. He's just fatigued from lack of sleep is all." a voice said, and Ichigo looked up from his son to see a black cat sitting just a few feet away. It yawned, flashing its rows of sharp white teeth before padding off towards the store again. Before it hopped through an open window, the cat said something.

"I already told Rukia where you and Ulquiorra were so she wouldn't have to worry too much." it said over its shoulder.

"Thanks Yoruichi." Ichigo called back, and watched the cat jump through the window before he looked back at his son. He sighed and wondered how he was going to explain all of this to Rukia…

_________________________________________

_He held the struggling shinigami at arm's length, and looked at her like a child who had found something unusual. He looked back at the furious orange haired substitute shinigami._

"_What would you do if I tore her head off?" he asked, genuinely curious about the trash's reaction._

"_You put her down! She has nothing to do with this!" the trash snarled, and raised his sword threateningly. How foolish. Even if he did try to take a swipe at him, he would still be able to rip the shinigami's head off before the black blade touched his iron tough skin._

"_She is a shinigami from Soul Society, and thus an enemy. Though I sense that she is nothing but trash." he said, and lifted his hand up from its pocket, and put it on the shinigami's head. He moved it down the front of her body, until he could feel the faint pulse of her heart._

"_You humans speak so much of hearts. Especially that stupid woman. What would I see if I ripped open this shinigami's chest? Would I find her heart there?" he asked, almost as if he were asking himself and not Ichigo. His eyes went from where his hand was, to her frightened, tearful face._

"_Are you scared, shinigami? Are you frightened that I'll rip your heart out for all to see?" he asked softly_

"_You sick bastard!" she spat, and continued to struggle. But it was all in vain._

"_That's not the answer I asked for, shinigami. I asked you if you were afraid. You are friends with that woman I suppose. Maybe I should give your heart to her, as a gift. Should I present her with your heart so that I could prove to her how useless it is? That it is nothing but a lump of flesh and organs, beating and pulsing underneath the ribcage? That there's nothing more and nothing less." he said, and then made a quick movement that couldn't be tracked by the shinigami's eyes. He reached inside of her chest, and plucked one of her bones from her ribcage._

_She screamed in agony, and writhed in his grip as he slowly extracted the bone. He let go of it so he could swat at the trash that came at him. The substitute went flying back and landed roughly, making a crater in the floor. He got up and tried again, but this time Ulquiorra caught him by his neck, and squeezed it. The trash let out a strangled cry before he fell to the ground motionless, though he was still conscious, and still able to watch the torture Ulquiorra would inflict on the shinigami._

"_Now where was I?" he asked, eyes full of malice as he slowly extracted the bone he had been pulling at. The shinigami screamed and begged him to stop and he pulled it out completely. The trash sprang up again and actually managed to knock him back with a Getsuga Tenshō, catching the shinigami and laying her down on the ground as blood poured out of her chest cavity._

"_RUKIA!!!" he screamed tearfully. There was nothing he could do for her since he didn't know any healing kido or any type of healing technique at all._

"_I-Ichi…Ichi-g-go." she stuttered, coughing up blood._

______________________________

Ulquiorra awoke in the dark next to something warm. His senses were still blurred by his tiredness, and he unconsciously snuggled next to the warm object, hugging himself tighter to the warmth, since he could tell it was cold outside in the light. He opened his eyes, blinking until they focused, and saw nothing but mostly darkness, and a darker shape in front of him. That was where the warmth was coming from.

He felt around with his hand, until he felt a soft edge, and coldness just beyond it. He gripped the edge, and pulled. Bright white light blinded him momentarily, before his eyes adjusted to it and he could take a look around. He was in his parent's bedroom, under the covers, with his mother lying next to him.

She was had been hugging him, probably trying to keep him warm and protect him from the biting chill in the air. It was winter, just a few weeks after his birth date.

He remembered the dream just had. It was another memory from his life before. He had remembered nearly everything, but there were still small things, like the interactions he had with the shinigami and humans. That had been the only time he'd talked to his mother before he had been reborn. He had dismissed her as trash, unworthy of being noticed.

He watched her sleep, and vividly recalled that memory. He touched the place where her heart would be lightly, and then pressed his hand gently on the place where he had ripped out part of one of her ribs. He could tell by her breathing pattern that she was awake, and conscious of his actions. He could also tell by the way her breathing rate, and heart rate quickened, that she was scared.

He leaned down closer to her.

"You know I can't hurt you, so why does your heart rate quicken as if you were afraid? If you really wanted to hurt me back…you could. There's no reason for you to be afraid. You're obliviously much stronger than I am." he whispered, and her eyes opened. In her lilac irises were fear and sadness.

"I would never hurt you." she whispered, sitting up and placing a warm hand on his face.

"…Even after what I did to you? You still don't hate me?" he asked softly

"That happened a long time ago…and you're my son. It doesn't matter to me who you were before, but who you are now." she said, hugging him to her gently. Once again, Ulquiorra felt himself go into mental conflict. One part of him wanted to push her away in disgust, but the other part wanted to hug her back. He once again didn't know what to do, but then he remembered something someone had told him once. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. This feeling…was as the person had described it. Though part of him felt sickened by this emotion, another part, the larger part, found it…comforting.

Unknown to either of them, Ichigo peeked through the door which had been left ajar ever so slightly. A smile tugged at his lips as he watched Rukia hug Ulquiorra tighter, and he snuggled into her warm body. Even though he had been a hollow in his past life, and a very cold and heartless on e at that, he was still in reality just a child. It confused Ichigo to think about it whenever he got the chance. Even though he was a child, he probably had the mindset of an adult. He acted so cold and seemed to separate himself from his parents…though then there was this.

Ichigo shook his head, and put it out of his mind. It would do him no good to think about the past now when he had so many things to do and worry about in present time. One of them was what they would do for when Ulquiorra went back to school. He knew Orihime would understand, but how would he explain it to the principal? Ichigo though, wasn't the least bit concerned about Ulquiorra falling behind in his classes. It seemed almost laughable for him to worry about something like that. Ulquiorra could already do Calculus and flipped through Twilight books in days.

Ichigo just walked away quietly so he could call the school and inform them that Ulquiorra would be coming back tomorrow.

________________________________

"…This is wrong. There are several typos, some grammar errors, you spelled the names all wrong, and you left out the more detailed symptoms, such a lymph node swelling and such." he said, as he finished correcting the document. He handed it back to the orange haired man, who nodded numbly.

"And you put down the wrong amount, you're .001 milligrams off for the right amount." he finished. Ichigo sighed, and started typing again. Once he was finished, he let Ulquiorra check it again. Once he got his son's approval, Ichigo hit the save button, and then turned off the computer. He turned 180 degrees in the office chair, holding Ulquiorra on his lap. Ichigo had recently learned that Ulquiorra also had a talent for hacking computers and had been going into his father's medical files and making the necessary adjustments and fixing the documents so that there weren't typos or any wrong prescriptions. Sometimes Ichigo thought it was a bit sad that he needed his six year old son the edit his medical documents, but then he was forced to remind himself of who his son really was.

Sometimes, Ulquiorra seemed like a miniature adult. No, that was most of the time. Though Ichigo hated to admit it, he knew that his son was more clever, smarter, and wittier than both he and Rukia put together. How many times had Ichigo played chess with Ulquiorra, and been beaten horribly? Not that he was ever good at the game…but it was still a bit more than just a little embarrassing to lose to your six year old son.

Ichigo glanced at the clock on the wall "It's almost time for bed." he told Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra just nodded absentmindedly and cuddled against his father. Ichigo smiled a little. It was times like this though, when he could see traces of warmth and humanity in his son. He wished that Ulquiorra would stay a shinigami, and not become and arrancar. Ichigo feared that if his son became a hollow again, he would lose all traces of love and care for his parents, and go back to Aizen. Ichigo closed his eyes, and tried to make the image of a full-grown Espada Ulquiorra go away.

Ichigo was about to say something when he looked down at Ulquiorra and saw that he was already asleep. He smiled once more, and patted his son's head lightly before shifting him onto his shoulder and getting up. He carried Ulquiorra into his room, and laid him down on the bed. Ichigo turned to see Rukia standing in the doorway. She walked in and pulled the covers up to Ulquiorra's neck before stroking his cheek lovingly like any mother would.

"Goodnight, Ulquiorra." she whispered.

__________________________________________


	6. Issues

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

Ulquiorra was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table, rereading _The Host_. The woman had left a few hours ago because his parents were about to come home any minute. Despite his protests and arguments that he could take care of himself, his mother and father had still asked the woman…Orihime, to come over at least once a day and watch him for a few hours to make sure he was okay. And then there were her calls…and if he didn't answer when the phone rang, she'd panic and run over to the clinic/house. He had learned this the hard way.

Ichigo and Rukia were away on vacation in Soul Society. Ulquiorra though, knew exactly what the 'vacationing' was really. He had already analyzed both of his parents critically and occasionally used it to his advantage. Like the time he blackmailed his father into letting him train a few extra hours at Kisuke's by threatening to let everyone know what a pervert he was. Ulquiorra knew exactly why his father was a fan of Shakespeare(1).

But, that left Ulquiorra alone…but he wasn't complaining. Aside from the woman's calls and visits, he was completely alone and had the entire house to himself, which meant absolute silence. He hated to admit it, but to him at some times, it seemed just a tad bit lonely after a while. Not that he would ever say that aloud…or mention how lucky he actually was to have Ichigo and Rukia as parents, no matter how absurd it seemed. He had been born to a spiritually aware family for one, and to the one person who probably knew him best. Well, saying that was an overstatement really, because Ichigo had hardly known him, but maybe the orange haired idiot was right about a sort bond, or at least some kind of connection forming between them.

Just as Ulquiorra's thoughts started to drift to his training and his progress, he heard the front door click and then swing open.

"Ulquiorra?" his father's voice called out. Ulquiorra got off the chair, setting the hard cover book down on the table before walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway. He saw his parents in their gigai when they entered the house.

"Ulqui! It's so good to see that you're okay." Rukia said as she hugged her son once she got close enough to him.

"And it's good to see that your pregnancy isn't too hard on you…at least not yet." he said bluntly, causing both of his parents to gasp

"How did you-"

"It was oblivious." he cut in, and then turned his back to them.

Later on that day, Ichigo came into his son's room to find him reading a new House of Night novel. It didn't seem like his imagination, but Ichigo could've sworn that Ulquiorra had some strange obsession/fascination with vampires. He sat down on the edge of Ulquiorra's bed and cleared his throat.

"So…how were you when we were gone?" Ichigo asked

"Fine." he replied, turning a page. He didn't so much as glance at his father.

"Right, right…so…um…how did you guess that your mother was pregnant? Honestly…"

"…Even if it's not showing yet, I thought it was oblivious. You two aren't just going to run off somewhere alone and not do anything. Though being a doctor, shouldn't you know a bit more about protection? Unless you intentionally got her pregnant which could be the case." Ulquiorra said, but his tone suggested that either way he didn't really care. Ichigo blushed. This wasn't exactly the kind of image that he wanted in Ulquiorra's head when he thought of his parents. It almost seemed as if he thought they were…

"And you're both easy to read, quite predictable after a while." he threw in, which hurt Ichigo a little. Ulquiorra was blunt, very, very blunt. It had been something both he and Rukia had tried to tone down and work on since the child could form sentences and speak, but despite their efforts the trace of his former self still remained stubbornly.

"Oh, we can't be-"

"Yes you can. After watching you two for awhile…I can tell what you're thinking, what you're going to do, what you've done…just about everything."

Ichigo looked down at his fidgeting hands. He felt a little embarrassed, hurt, and almost ashamed. Ulquiorra looked up from the book to his father. He could tell by his expression and body language that his words had an impact on him. That and he knew his words would. It was exactly like he said-he could read both of them as easily as a Twilight book. But yet he did not say a word. Doubt, suspicion, and hurt would creep into Ichigo's heart, working its way to the very center and making a nest that would breed uncertainty and hesitation among many other dark emotions. Deep down inside, sometimes he got a kick out of doing this sort of thing. At first Ichigo had been resistant to Ulquiorra's mental traps and torturing, but he found a way to get around that once he got to know him better. He could see now why Aizen had so much fun manipulating people for sheer entertainment and personal enjoyment.

"…" Ichigo frowned down at his hands before getting up quietly and leaving.

Ulquiorra looked up when the door didn't close. He saw his mother standing in the doorway instead of his father.

He didn't know why, but he had a little bit more respect for his mother than his father. Perhaps it was her cooler personality and ability to reason and think unlike Ichigo's more reckless, headstrong nature. Maybe it was because of that made him feel a little closer to her, but because of this respect, he put his book down as a sign that he was willing to listen to what she had to say. Of course he listened to his father…but…not as often as he listened to what his mother had to say. She walked into his room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Ulquiorra waited patiently for what she had to say, and he didn't have to wait too long.

"You really shouldn't do that to your father. It hurts him." she said quietly.

"I don't care if he's hurt or not." Ulquiorra replied simply

"That's a horrible thing to say." she said, quiet anger raging in her voice.

"…" he didn't say anything else to her, and she didn't say anything else to him as she got up and left. Ulquiorra picked up his book again and resumed reading, but it wasn't long before the sun started to set and he knew that one of his parents would come upstairs to tell him to go to bed if he didn't turn his lights out soon. Reluctantly placing a 'Vampires won't hurt you' bookmark in his book, he set it on the nightstand next to his bed and started to get ready to go to sleep.

**8 months later…**

Ulquiorra watched with a sort of fascination as his father ran downstairs to see what his wife wanted. He wondered if this was what it had been like when Rukia was pregnant with him, and felt a tinge of sympathy for his father. Once she got further into her pregnancy, Ulquiorra did the best he could to avoid his mother. Since their 'argument' he had avoided talking to her completely, only speaking when absolutely necessary. To many a person it might have seemed absurd that someone could hold a grudge that long, but he wasn't holding a grudge. He simply didn't feel the need to talk to her, especially after what had happened eight months earlier.

But Rukia thought of this differently, and had become so angry with him that she too refused to speak to him, but they didn't talk to each other for completely different reasons. Rukia was mad and thought of this childishly, while Ulquiorra was becoming too busy to care or even notice.

School was no problem. Training was tiring and wore him down, but he felt it to be rewarding and some progress was finally starting to show. There were those things, and his manga. Ulquiorra had started a manga on his own, and had it published. It had become surprisingly popular, and so he started several more mangas, all which became very popular too. The anime adaption had just aired a month ago, and he felt a little bit proud about his work. Another talent he had was for drawing and art and due to the spiritual awareness in his life and everything he had been through in his previous life had influenced his stories.

His first one was a somewhat twisted version of everything that had happened to Ichigo, Rukia, and all their friends. He called it 'Tide' for some unknown reason. He thought it must've been when he was staring at a jug of bleach laundry liquid, but maybe it was something else. Whatever the reason, it had become quite popular, but he knew he had to be careful of what he wrote since other spiritually aware people might read it too. But, since it was so popular, Ulquiorra had made quite a profit off of it, and that wasn't counting his other manga as well. He already had a bank account set up, and so far he had saved up more money than his father made in two years, being a doctor.

Ulquiorra watched as his father ran back up the stairs, and into his room.

"She wants to talk to you." he panted. It looked as if he might have been hit by something, judging by the black eye he had. Ulquiorra had been dreading this, but he knew that his mother had been pinning for his attention lately, and every time he'd just pretend to be asleep or busy. But in this stage of her pregnancy, he knew that she'd most likely drag him out of bed if he used the 'I'm sleeping' excuse.

He held back a sigh as he hopped off the bed and walked downstairs only to find his mother sitting in a chair, her head back and her eyes closed. She seemed to be resting at the moment, but her eyes opened and turned on him as he approached her. The chair she was sitting in was like a recliner, so he sat on the arm of the chair and looked down at the floor.

"…" Rukia wrapped her arms around Ulquiorra and pulled him off the armrest and on to the chair, next to her. He was able to fit since they were both small and petite, not counting Rukia's beach ball stomach. She took one of his hands, and placed it on her stomach. It was warm.

"Feel here." she said quietly, moving his hand to the left a little bit. Ulquiorra felt something. It felt a little faint, but he could feel something…something kicking.

"Can you feel it?" she asked softly. He nodded silently and Rukia smiled. She wrapped one arm around him, and rested the other on the arm rest, laying her hand on her tummy.

At that moment, Ulquiorra felt a tinge of warmness in his chest. It felt good and he wanted it to last, but at the same time he felt a bit of disgust. He pushed the latter feeling down and tried to savor the warmth of the moment. He almost regretted not talking to his mother for such a long time. Almost.

"It's going to be a girl. I know it." she whispered. Ichigo thought it was going to be a boy. Rukia thought it was going to be a girl. And out of a sick twist of unusual, uncharacteristic humor, Ulquiorra wanted to say 'hermaphrodite'. But he kept that thought to himself. He had learned long ago that Ichigo wanted his son's 'innocence' to last as long as possible, yet it was at these times that he forgot who Ulquiorra's comrades had been. Nnoitra and Szayel had quite a bit of fun explaining to him what he didn't know about 'adult things' when he first arrived in Las Noches.

Ulquiorra nodded for the sake of agreeing, because at the moment he didn't feel like arguing with her or disagreeing, and he was sure she felt the same way.

"Today is my birthday." she suddenly said, and Ulquiorra tensed. The two words 'Oh shit.' ran through his mind as he sat there, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

"Happy birthday." he said quietly, his mind working at top speed.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

"Did you have any plans?" he asked carefully, trying to go easy. This was a very delicate situation, and he was treading in dangerous waters especially since she was ten times more emotional than she would normally be.

"No, but…" she couldn't keep a hint of sadness out of her voice "talking to you made my day." she tried to sound more positive, but Ulquiorra could tell she was very disappointed that nothing special was happening. He couldn't relate to the feeling since his birthday had never held any special meaning to him, and when he was a hollow, he didn't even have one.

He got off the chair and went back upstairs without saying a word. Once he closed his door, he searched his desk for the cellphone he had bought himself with his own money and started to dial a number when there was a knock on the door. He hastily put his cell back in the desk drawer before getting on his bed, trying to act casual. The door opened to reveal his father.

"Did you even try to cheer her up?" Ichigo asked pleadingly, but his son ignored it. Ichigo sighed, feeling rejected and discouraged as he closed the door gently, leaving Ulquiorra alone once more. Once Ulquiorra was sure that his father was gone, he pulled out his cell again and pressed the CALL button. It rang several times before someone picked up.

"Hello?" a feminine voice answered "How may I help you today, Mr. Kurosaki?", it was Ulquiorra's secretary that he had hired only a month earlier. She seemed to actually be useful in managing and organizing things for him, such as meetings. She was also able to schedule appointments for him, from different companies, and appointments with the head of the network that his anime was being broadcasted on.

"Hello Melissa. I'd like to make a reservation for two at The Point. Schedule it to be at eight o'clock, and have someone ready to pick up my parents. A limousine will do…and I'll need a simple suit for my father for the occasion-you already know what size he wears. My mother will need a dress to…something simple, like black silk with a violet colored geometrical design perhaps? Like I said, something simple and expensive will do, and it will have to be able to fit her with her pregnancy. That's all…though there is one more thing. Order a diamond necklace from SHINE's, with a pair of matching earrings set in silver, and the necklace should be silver as well."

"Okay Mr. Kurosaki. I'll get right on it." Melissa replied

"Thank you Melissa." he said shortly, and then hung up. He slipped his cell into his pocket and then opened his door slightly. He went downstairs and found his mother in the same position and spot as before, only this time she really was sleeping. His survival instincts told him not to wake her up, so instead he turned to his father, who was sitting in a chair in the kitchen. Ulquiorra walked in and tapped his father's arm. Ichigo looked at him wearily, holding his head in his hands.

"Uhhnn…Ulquiorra, can it wait? I'm feeling kinda tired since Rukia kept me up all last night." Ichigo sighed, rubbing his forehead. Ulquiorra pursed his lips.

"No, it cannot wait. You have a scheduled dinner at The Point tonight at eight, and you will be picked up and driven there, as well as driven back home. I'm having clothes for both you and mother made just for the occasion, and I've ordered a diamond necklace and matching earrings set in silver from SHINE's for her. I suggest you give them to her at The Point, before you have dinner there." Ulquiorra explained.

"Ulquiorra…that's nice and all, but I don't have the money to pay for any of this stuff." Ichigo said in a hoarse, tired voice. He made to get up and reach for the phone sitting on its cradle in the living room, but Ulquiorra stopped him in his tracks with just a few words.

"I'm paying for it."

Ichigo froze, and turned around slowly to face his son, not sure if he had heard him right.

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm paying for it." Ulquiorra repeated. Ichigo gaped at him.

"How in the world could a _child_ afford…"

"You've heard of the series by El Que Llora, haven't you?"

"…Yes…the manga series that I read occasionally."

"…El Que Llora is Spanish for 'he who cries'."

"El Que Llora…wait…Ulquiorra…" Ichigo's expression changed to one of complete and utter shock "Are you saying that _you_…"

"My namesake is also my penname." Ulquiorra told his father. Ichigo gaped for a few seconds, and then fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Ulquiorra frowned, his black upper lip pulling down into a small frown as he observed his father's unconscious figure. He looked up from his father when he heard a noise coming from the living room.

"Ichigo?" Rukia called "Ichigo?". Ulquiorra walked into the living room and to his mother's side. She seemed to have just woken up.

"Father is resting. Perhaps you should get a bit more rest too." Ulquiorra suggested, causing Rukia to give her son a questioning glance.

"Why?"

"Well, I'm really not supposed to tell you since it's supposed to be a surprise…" Ulquiorra tempted, and Rukia took the bait.

"What aren't you suppose to tell me?" she demanded.

"Well, father is planning to take you to The Point, and he's even bought a new dress for you for the occasion to celebrate your birthday. He's been working extra hard and saving up to afford this."

"Oh…and I've been working him so hard, and he's already exhausted…" Rukia murmured, feeling guilty. She looked back at her son.

"I'll act surprised then when he tells me so he won't know that you told me already." she smiled "The Point…" shortly after that she fell asleep again, to Ulquiorra's relief. When he was absolutely sure that she was asleep, he went into the kitchen and had to pull up a chair to reach the sink. He got a plastic cup and filled it with cold water, then returned to where his father was laying in the hallway, still unconscious.

Ulquiorra tipped the cup over his father's face, letting the water splash onto his face. Ichigo's eyes snapped open as he gagged, sitting upright and trying to snort out the water in his noise which burned like ice. He spewed and coughed, gagging, his eyes watering as he thumped his chest. Ulquiorra severely regretted one thing-not having a camera with video capabilities to record this.

Once Ichigo was able to breathe properly again he glared at Ulquiorra "What the heck was that for?!"

"…I suggest that you get some rest before tonight. You'll be taking mother to The Point." Ulquiorra said, and then turned his back to his father and headed upstairs. Ichigo followed his son to his room, where he found him sitting on the bed with a large, thick, heavy looking book opened up. Ulquiorra turned the page, not even glancing at Ichigo.

Ichigo hesitated at the doorway, but decided to go in. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the book that Ulquiorra seemed so focused on. Ichigo's eyebrows pulled together as he frowned. Even if he hadn't been looking at the book upside down, he still wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of what it was saying. There were a bunch of complicated equations and letters here and there in the equations that made no sense to him. He wondered if this was some sort of advanced trigonometry or something complicated like that.

"So…um…you can understand this?" Ichigo asked after a few more moments of looking at the numbers. Ulquiorra pried his eyes away from the book to look at his father. He nodded.

"Oh…you know, if you're really that bored, I could just buy you a new book or something." Ichigo offered. Ulquiorra shook his head slightly.

"I'm not bored. I'm just studying."

"…Studying for what?" What are you studying for?" Ichigo asked slowly, almost afraid of the answer

"A test." Ulquiorra answered

"…What kind of test?"

"The college exit exam for math." Ulquiorra replied. Ichigo nodded "Oh…wait…WHAT???????" his eyes widened drastically when Ulquiorra's words sunk in.

"Don't worry, I've already reviewed for the high school exit tests in the sections of math, science, history, and language. The college ones aren't really much harder, in fact their somewhat easy."

"B-b-b-but…wa-wait…_why_ the hell are you even studying for these tests?! You won't take them for another nine or so years at the very least." Ichigo said frantically.

"Actually, I decided that I no longer want to attend school, so I'll merely take the exit exams and be done with my education. School is so bothersome and it takes up far too much time." Ulquiorra said. A twitch formed under Ichigo's left eye.

"No. No, no, no, no, _no._ There is no way in hell you're taking those tests."

"Why not?" Ulquiorra challenged, feeling annoyed. Why couldn't Ichigo see that it was pointless to go to school anymore? At least for him, anyways.

"Why? You're asking me why? Well, for starters, I'm not going to let you just lounge around when you should be learning."

"I've learnt everything, from my grade all the way up to college level. I don't need someone to teach me this." Ulquiorra argued, yet he had a sinking sense that this argument was futile and in vain.

"But still…you still need to interact and socialize with people."

"I can do that at business meetings. There aren't any special skills required for talking to someone and carrying out a conversation."

"But you're still a _child_. Children your age can't even get through the first chapter of the first Twilight book. Children your age are still in the process of learning about language and reading skills. Children your age are still learning to add and subtract, barely even getting to multiplication and division, not going over advanced trigonometry or calculus."

"But you know I'm an exception to that. I can take care of myself just fine on my own, and it would make it easier on you and mother if I simply moved out."

"But you're still a _child_." Ichigo stressed, nearly at his breaking point. He felt aggravated that he was having this argument with Ulquiorra in the first place.

"I only look like a child, but you know that I'm smarter than you and mother-"

"Damnit, you don't think I know that!? You don't think that I _know_ that you're some kind of freak?! I'm reminded that my first _child_ is some kind of freak every time I look at you?! Who the hell has skin that white?! And your upper lip and nails are _black._ Not to mention the fact that you're _completely_ antisocial, but I can understand why. Kids, even adults are _scared_ of you, because you're such a _freak_! I never asked for a _freak _like you to be my son! In fact, you're the _last_ person I would've wanted to be me child, even _Aizen _would've been better. I mean, at least he would've looked _normal _and not like some disgustingly pale, monotone colored _freak._" Ichigo ranted.

Ulquiorra stared at Ichigo, shocked. But that wasn't the end of his father's tirade.

"And on top of that I'm _sick_ and _tired_ of listening to your smart-mouth and all your back-sassing. I'm _sick_ and _tired_ of even having to _look at you_. And I'm _**sick**_ _and__** tired**_ of being reminded that my first and only son is a _**FREAK**_!!!" Ichigo backhanded Ulquiorra, not very hard, but hard enough to knock him over on the bed. Ichigo got up and stormed out, slamming the door behind him with such forced that the floor boards shook, and leaving Ulquiorra lying on the bed, stunned.

Ulquiorra slowly touched the place where his father had hit him on his face, gingerly brushing his fingers against it as the words sunk in, burning him like acid. He had no idea why Ichigo's words hurt him so. But they did, and they hurt horribly. Ulquiorra tried to swallow the lump forming in his throat, and blink back the tears that blurred his vision, threatening to spill over. As the first tear ran down his cheek, Ulquiorra gasped in pain as he slid of the bed. He pushed several heavy objects up against his door, and once he was sure that no one would be able to get in, he clambered onto his bed and began to sob. All the tears that had built up, the pain the sadness that had been stored away seemed to burst out like water flooding from a broken dam.

Ichigo's words still haunted him. He didn't think of Ulquiorra as his child. He was more of an object, a job, a simple responsibility. Take care of, feed, and give shelter to, just the basic needs. Why would an 'antisocial freak' need anything more, possibly less.

He had lost the only person who truly, deeply understood him, who saw who he truly was, the one person who looked deep underneath his flesh and blood, underneath his layers of antisocialism, coldness, and his nigh emotionless expressions to see who he really was. That person was gone, maybe lost from him forever, because of one stupid blunder. One huge, fumbling mistake on his part had shattered his one chance at maybe even happiness if he wanted it, but being understood, being empathized with, it was all gone.

Ichigo covered his face with his hands as he sighed, and then blindly reached for a towel on the rack as he stepped out of the shower. He wiped his face off, and then his arms, working his way down as he dried himself off and chided himself for losing his temper with Ulquiorra, for what he said, and for hitting him. Yet Ichigo tried to ease his overwhelming guilt by telling himself that Ulquiorra could handle it, and that he didn't need to worry as much as if he had said it to another child.

Yet, as Ichigo walked out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel tied around his waist, he heard something when he passed by Ulquiorra's room. He stopped and listened carefully. He heard crying…or rather sobbing. Ichigo covered his mouth in concern as he looked at the door, and listened to the sounds coming from behind it. He tried the knob, but the door wouldn't open, even if it was unlocked. Ichigo knocked softly, and the sobbing seemed to stop immediately. There was a scraping sound, as if something heavy was being moved around, and then the door opened just a crack. Ichigo could see one red-rimmed green eye glaring up at him.

"What do you want?" Ichigo was surprised Ulquiorra had even answered him.

"Um…Ulquiorra…is it okay if I….uh, come in? I want to apologize…for what I said earlier." Ichigo said hesitantly. The door swung open in response, almost hitting him in the face. He saw Ulquiorra sitting on the very edge of his bed, farthest away from where the foot of the bed was, hunched over his huge book. Ichigo sat down close to the head of the bed, where Ulquiorra was hunched over.

"…I'm…I'm…very sorry about the things I said to you earlier. I didn't…I don't mean what I said. And I'm sorry about…hitting you." he said quietly, yet Ulquiorra continued to focus completely on his book, ignoring his father.

"I…didn't mean what I said about you being a freak, or regretting having you as my child."

Ulquiorra still did not say a word, or even glance up at Ichigo from the book. He just continued to quietly read.

"It's just that…sometimes…I really do think of you as my son…and other times…I only see the other Ulquiorra, the arrancar version of yourself. Your mother and I…we tried to raise you so that…so that you wouldn't grow up to be like your old self, and at first we thought we were failing at doing that."

Ichigo paused, waiting for a response, even a glance, before continuing. He received neither before going on.

"I guess somewhere along the way we realized…that we can't mold you. We can't raise you and try to make you different, because you are who you are…and you are unique. And…I wasn't expecting to have you as my first child. When I thought of my first kid with Rukia, I thought he or she would look a little bit more like one of us. I thought of playing sports with them, and spending time with them, and bonding…but when I found out that it was you…I felt disappointed."

He paused again, yet no comments, not even a glance came. He went on.

"I felt disappointed…well…because I couldn't imagine doing any of those things with you. And Rukia…she'd been hoping for a girl…she knew she couldn't really bond with you…well…because you seemed so…cold and unfeeling. But we both told ourselves that we'd do our best to be loving parents, to be good parents, no matter who our child was. But…you seemed to push us away, rejected us…as if you didn't return our love."

He paused again, and the same thing happened. No reply, not even the quickest steal of a small look. He continued.

"But, at times that seemed to change. At times, you actually seemed like a child, like the child we'd imagined. And at other times…you were like an adult. So serious and intelligent, you didn't need scolding or correcting. You didn't need to be taught things…because you just knew them or figured them out on your own. By the time you were five you could read old English plays that had taken me an entire month to get through, yet you finished them in just days. You were good, you didn't misbehave…but you were so quiet…and…you never seemed to care for the company of others. It seemed as if you'd rather be alone…just by yourself."

He paused, and then went on once more.

"It saddened your mother and I…but we still told ourselves that we would be good parents. That we would love you, and we did. We love you simply because you're our child, and because…well…we said we would. But…sometimes I just feel like…like you're just so distant. I know you could probably survive on your own, that you'd be able to take care of yourself, that you're smart and you have the mindset of an adult…but as parents, Rukia and I just aren't ready to let go of you yet…and we still want to treat you as a child…because that's what our maternal instincts are telling us to do. That has parents, we have certain responsibilities, and certain things we have to teach you. It's hard…when you already know all this…and when you push away our efforts to raise you how we think we should…and it makes us feel like bad parents."

He paused. This time he didn't wait for a reply, or glance, he only paused, and the continued.

"But…what I should really be saying is that I'm sorry…for hurting you, both physically and emotionally." Ichigo finished. Finally, for the first time since he had entered the room, Ulquiorra looked up at him. He stared at him, unblinking, and then his eyes shifted to one of Ichigo's hands on his lap. He leaned over and carefully held one of Ichigo's large hands in his two, much smaller, paler hands.

"You had a dream about me last night, during the few hours of sleep you got. You dreamt that you were in a similar situation with me, as before. I was probably asking to move out…and when you said no, I grasped one of your hands and put it to my mouth. I bit so deep into your flesh that I went through veins and hit the bone. You managed to free your hand, and rushed downstairs into the kitchen and ran cold water over it. Rukia came in and asked what was wrong, but as you were about to reply, I came in through the other way, and I was licking your blood off my hands. It was then probably that I morphed into my former Espada self, and I unsheathed my blade. I stabbed you, and you fell to the ground, helpless, and then watched as I grabbed Rukia and instead of tearing out a bone from her rib cage, I tore out and crushed her unborn child, then I crushed her skull. Afterwards, I picked you up, said something, and then twisted your head off its shoulders and crushed it underfoot." Ulquiorra said as he looked up to meet his father's eyes, which were full of fear.

"How did you-"

"Your screaming last night was unbearable, and I could tell the rest from your behavior and movements, especially around me. It's not that you dislike me, I _know_ you 'love me' as your child…though…" Ulquiorra raised Ichigo's trembling hand to his mouth "It doesn't stop you, my parents, from fearing me. Especially what I'm capable of." he bit Ichigo's hand gently, not going to deep, but just enough to draw a fair amount of blood. The red liquid smeared his lips as he lapped it up, conscious of Ichigo watching, his fear growing by the second, as he watched Ulquiorra do this. Ulquiorra licked his lips and ran one small, pale finger across the short red line made by his uppers set of teeth, a licked the blood that collected on his finger. He did this like a child who licked their fingers coated in honey or syrup, not blood. It looked so innocent, yet the blood tainted the image. Ulquiorra let go of his father's hand.

"And…" Ulquiorra licked the last bit of blood that clung to the upper corner of his mouth "You have every right to fear me and my capabilities."

1 - If you've ever read one of Shakespeare's plays, then you might notice some rather lewd humor. That and Ichigo is just a pervert, let's face it, lol. also, I'd like to thank TeenageNeko and Hastune-chan for reviewing :) but btw I put text breaks in the earlier chapters but idk what happened to them after I posted the chapters…watev, hopefully they'll show up in this chapter so it makes things less confusing


	7. Truce

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

**AN:** Before I get started, I'd like to address some of the reviews I got for the last chapter. Firstly to TeenageNeko: thanks a ton, lol! You're reviews are really what help me get through the chapters, so thanks a bunch! Animegamemaster6: Um…no, I actually meant to put this under humor, but maybe I've just got a dark sense of humor? Idk, but I'm planning some funny stuff in some upcoming chapters, but I can kinda see how the last chapter might've fit into the horror genre…though I still think its kinda funny. Of course I did laugh when I saw this one woman throw up a baby and then another woman ate it and it clawed its way out of her stomach….oh well thnx for reviewing :) . To AlaeaMori: apparently you're not the only one with a weird sense of humor, but I've found myself pairing Ulqui up with Rukia, even though I still generally prefer Ichiruki, but I've become more lax with my pairings as time went on. but thanx for reviewing too! and too tanith-4486: uh, thanx. thanx for reviewing too :D

And now onward! Or…forward? Oh well, whichever it is, lol

* * *

As Ichigo lay in bed that night, he wondered what kind of wedge he'd driven between Ulquiorra and himself. Rukia was still oblivious to the whole thing, but had been delighted the night before to be taken to The Point, and on top of that having been bought a new dress and presented with 'his' gift to her. Right now Rukia seemed to be sleeping peacefully, resting contentedly next to him.

But Ichigo, unlike his wife, felt restless. To add on to his guilt and unease was knowing that Ulquiorra had already made more money than Ichigo made per year, and that he'd been able to buy nice, expensive things for his mother. In a sense, in almost reminded him of Byakuya. Cold, calculating, quiet, distant, rich, and highly intelligent were words to describe them both well.

Ichigo turned on his side, and decided to get up and go downstairs. Maybe watching some TV would help ease his restlessness and distract his mind from this worrying. He got up out of bed, careful not to wake Rukia and made his way downstairs and into the living room. After a few moments of blind fumbling he managed to locate the remote and turned on the TV. He flicked through a few channels, and finally settled for a news station.

After a few minutes of listening to the reporter talk about cloudy weather with a chance of rain tomorrow, he heard a shuffling noise. Ichigo turned to see where it had come from and saw Ulquiorra standing in the doorway. The faint light from the TV illuminated his pale features and gave him a slightly eerie look. Ichigo cleared his throat after a few moments and smiled.

"Ulquiorra…what are you doing up so late? Isn't it past your bed time?" Ichigo asked in a teasing tone, but Ulquiorra continued to stand there and stare aimlessly at him. Ichigo, a bit unnerved, turned back to the television. The reporter was now talking about an accident at a train station nearby. Two trains had collided head-on, one carrying civilians and the other carrying numerous tanks of gasoline.

"So…um…I guess you couldn't sleep, eh?" Ichigo questioned nervously, turning back to Ulquiorra. Only Ulquiorra wasn't there. Ichigo blinked slowly and then looked back at the television. He felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck and for some unknown reason he looked away from the TV to his right and saw…

"AAHHH!" Ichigo jumped back in fright, gasping. Ulquiorra was standing inches away from where he had been sitting previously. Ulquiorra stood there, unblinking as he stared at Ichigo. Ichigo managed to catch his breath, and sighed.

"Uh…you gave me quite a scare there, kido. Don't sneak up on me like that again." he said, but Ulquiorra just went on staring. Ichigo uneasily looked back at the TV. It was now showing the wreckage of the two trains. Both had burst into flames and everyone aboard had died.

"…So, um…" Ichigo glanced at Ulquiorra "…Ulquiorra…could you please stop staring at me? It's a bit…uncomfortable." he said, shifting. He glanced back at Ulquiorra a few moments later, who was still staring.

"…Ulquiorra? Um…Ulquiorra…did you hear me? Could you please stop staring?" he repeated. Ulquiorra gave no sign of hearing him.

"Bakudo four, Hainawa." Ichigo suddenly found himself on the floor, having fallen off the couch. Something tangled his arms together, something made of reiatsu. Ichigo watched in fear as Ulquiorra made his way over to his father, and knelt by his body on the floor. His small, pale had touched the area where Ichigo's heart was. It was the same place where Ulquiorra's hollow hole had been in his previous life, and the same place where he had stabbed Ichigo when they first fought.

Scared, Ichigo thought of calling out to Rukia, but then instantly changed his mind. If Ulquiorra could perform kido of this level without an incantation, what would he be able to do to Rukia, pregnant and unaware of the danger she'd be walking into. Ichigo swallowed hard. If Ulquiorra killed him now, would he be able to get away with it? Surely Kisuke or Yoruichi would realize what he'd done, even if Rukia didn't figure it out. But…Ulquiorra had an intellect on par with Aizen's…he was far more intelligent than anyone would give him credit for. How simple would it be, to think of a convincing story and then dispose of the body…?

"Ulquiorra…what do you think you're doing?" Ichigo asked quietly. Ulquiorra didn't answer him, but he did meet his gaze. Ichigo had to look away from the unwavering emerald green eyes that stared him down. He thought of countering the kido, but then again, he was just about as good at kido as Renji was.

"Ulquiorra, I asked you a question. Why did you bind me?"

"…" Ulquiorra applied some pressure to that spot. Ichigo's heart started to beat more rapidly. A light but cold sweat had broken out all over his body. He squirmed, but the bindings only tightened their grip.

"…I don't understand…why…" Ulquiorra said slowly "Why exactly you're afraid. I know that what I will be capable of…eventually may be unsettling to you…but why every time I come close to you…you feel…uneasy. Scared."

Ichigo was speechless for a few moments, but soon enough he found his voice.

"I'm not really scared of you…well, it's just that-"

"I wasn't what you were expecting. You wanted a child, didn't you…but instead, you found yourself with a child's body, fitted with an adult's mindset. On top of it, your first child was the reincarnation of the only person whom you could never beat, the one person who struck fear into your heart…despair, even if it didn't show at the time. Deep underneath it all, you felt scared…very, very scared." and then, quite suddenly "Who do you see me as? Aside, from being your child? Your son?"

"…I don't know…I…" Ichigo didn't want to be honest. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to have to admit the truth out loud.

"Yes, you do know." Ulquiorra insisted "You still see me as Ulquiorra Schiffer, the fourth Espada."

Ichigo tried to deny it, but he verbally found that he couldn't. A few minutes went on like this, in silence. Until Ulquiorra spoke up.

"It's hard." he said quietly "Not having the freedom I used to have. Parents seem to be quite restricting, even if it is for a child's own good. It's also difficult to adjust to this way of life…I find it…strange. Humans and shinigami seem to lead such complicated lives. In Hueco Mundo, hollows never pondered if there was another outcome to our situation, if we could hope for better. We didn't dream, we only devoured. We never took pleasure when associating with one another, only strength in our alliances and a better chance for survival with greater numbers. You people…are so strange. I find it hard to adjust…though with a parent like you…" Ulquiorra trailed off.

Ichigo swallowed hard, wondering what would come next. He didn't have to wait too long.

"Though…I find it also odd…that I've nearly become attached to you people…maybe because of what you suggested, during our last fight. That maybe I've become 'more human'. And…I'm not really angry at you…for what you said before. It hurt…'emotionally'…but not anymore, or at least not as much. I believe this is what you humans and shinigami call 'forgiveness'."

Ichigo was more than just mildly surprised after this, even more so after the bindings on him shattered. Ichigo slowly got to his feet as Ulquiorra turned and began to walk away. But before the former Espada could get very far, Ichigo got to his feet and went after him, grabbing his shoulder and causing Ulquiorra to stop and look back up at him.

"Thank you Ulquiorra…" Ichigo started, and trailed off hesitantly before putting his hand out to Ulquiorra "And…I want to try…to try to keep the fighting to a minimum, alright? And…I am sorry, for earlier…" Ichigo seemed to be struggling to put the right words into place, and Ulquiorra, understanding the man's gesture, took his hand.

"Very well then." he said quietly, and they shook in a gesture of truce.

* * *

When Rukia got up that morning and went downstairs and into the kitchen, she found Ulquiorra and Ichigo already awake and eating breakfast.

"Oh, did I sleep in?" she asked, looking at them. Ichigo shook his spiky orange head and pulled out a chair for his wife and then got up to get her a plate of food.

"No, Ulquiorra and I just woke up early." he explained as he set the food down on the table in front of Rukia. She gave her son and husband a questioning look. Ichigo glanced at Ulquiorra, who after a minute, finished with his food and looked at his mother.

"We've been talking about something." he said simply, and then "I want to go to college."

Rukia blinked at him several times in surprise "You want to…"

"I want to attend college and study medicine so as to go onto the medical field like father." Ulquiorra stated. Rukia looked down at her plate for a few moments, and then back at her son "Okay."

Silence dominated the kitchen for only a matter of seconds, before Ichigo burst out "OKAY?"

Rukia looked at him calmly "Yes. Okay. I think it's a good idea, actually."

"B-But Rukia! This is college we're talking about! I'd be surprised if they actually took him serious, or even let him take the entrance exam! And even if he did pass and get in think of how much he'd be teased because of his height and age! And all the work they'd give him! He's…he's…" Ichigo trailed off, but Rukia put her hand on Ichigo's and gave him a solemn look that said everything.

Ichigo sat down in his chair weakly and looked from Ulquiorra to Rukia.

"Well I guess I've been outvoted, haven't I?" he said quietly, though, to his surprise, Rukia spoke just as quietly.

"We'll let you go to college on several conditions, Ulquiorra. One is that you cannot move or live anywhere but here until you're sixteen or older. We'll discuss the other conditions later, after breakfast."

Ulquiorra nodded silently, and thought somewhat bitterly _'I knew that there would be strings attached.'_

He got up and took his plate and glass to the sink and washed them off, while his parents remained seated at the table.

**

* * *

**

AN:

yeah so…er, couldn't think of a better way to end this chapter, sorry, I know it kinda sux _ but anyway, I thought it'd be kinda funny if Ulqui decided to go to college 'early' but I wrote this chapter a long time ago and then stopped, picked up, stopped, picked up, and then stopped, picked up again and finally finished it. I kno there r sum problems with it, but I was too lazy to go bak and fix it/rewrite it or whatever. again, I tell you, that I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can…so yeah. idt I hav much more to say. except review. reviews are important. VERY IMPORTANT. so please, please review :) 


	8. Camping!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach. But I DO have a Gin keychain…lol.

and now to address some reviews: kage-youkai girl-thanks! and thanks to Hastune-chan too! and to TeenageNeko, thanks a lot! I always love your reviews. and btw the fanart idea is awesome, and I would love it if you could do that, thanks a bunch! and too Allison-chan, thank you, its weird though because I started writing this story back a long time ago but never published the first few chapters until recently, lol. I just want to say thanks to all you who reviewed, and let me say that it really helps me when I'm writing since positive feedback is quite encouraging :)

* * *

Ulquiorra was sitting in his room, on his bed, going over the 'conditions' his mother had laid out for him. The first was that he could not move or live anywhere else but the current Kurosaki residence until he was sixteen or older, and Ulquiorra knew he was lucky that his mother had set sixteen as the limit, since that wasn't even the age for becoming a legalized adult. The second condition was that he wouldn't keep secrets from them anymore. This meant he had to confess about writing several popular mangas as well as the animes that went with them.

Presently, that was it for the 'conditions' but Ulquiorra had a lurking suspicion that there would be more. He glanced at the cover of _Catcher in the Rye_ and _Animal Farm_. Out of the two, _Animal Farm_ was Ulquiorra's favorite. In a haphazard of a pile on the nightstand next to his bed were _The Scarlet Ibis, To Kill a Mocking Bird, _and several other classics as well as a few well known Japanese novels. Ulquiorra picked up _Fahrenheit 451_ and _Lord of the Flies_ and put them next to _The Martian Chronicles_, another one of Bradbury's books, which rested on top of his drawer. Lately, he had been looking into educational reading, rather than reading for pleasure.

Just as Ulquiorra was looking over the cover of _The Scarlet Letter_, there was a knock on his door. The door cracked open a bit, and in the tiny amount of space that showed what was outside his room, Ulquiorra saw vivid orange hair and a brown eye peaking at him.

"Come in." he said as he put the book on his night stand. The pile wobbled dangerously.

Ichigo eyed the pile suspiciously for a moment before looking back at his son who was now seated on the edge of his bed, waiting to hear what his father had to say.

"Er…I was thinking…that maybe we should go out somewhere." Ichigo started. He took Ulquiorra's silence as a sign to go on.

"You've never been camping before, right? How about we go away for about two days or so and just camp near the forest right on the outskirts of-"

"I can't see how Rukia can come." Ulquiorra cut in bluntly, truly being unable to imagine his nine-month pregnant mother walking around in the forest, getting into a sleeping bag, hiking, or doing anything else that associated itself with camping.

"Well, she can't. I mean, not when she's…you know. But I was thinking it could be just you and me-"

"So you want to leave your nine-month pregnant wife alone or two days, just when it looks like she's about to have her second child?"

"No! I'm not leaving her alone! Orihime is coming over to stay with her, and I'm taking my cellphone with me so she or Rukia can cal incase anything happens. Besides, Rukia isn't due until about another week or so. And two days isn't much." Ichigo protested and then went on "Besides, I've got everything planned out already, and everything's packed and ready to go. We can take a transit bus up to the camping site I picked, and we can take the same bus back in two days."

Ulquiorra thought over what Ichigo was saying, but everything his father was saying still sounded ridiculous. The whole plane sounded stupid to him, and he still felt that there were many flaws with it, though despite all this he sighed.

"Give me awhile to think about it." Ichigo didn't know what else to expect, but the way Ulquiorra said those words made him think that his son was going to say no in the end. Of course he couldn't force him to go…and bribery hardly ever worked on the former Espada. But as if by magic, a light bulb was lit in what Ulquiorra sometimes called his 'exceedingly dim head'.

"So…you wouldn't go even if I took you to Barnes & Nobles to get five books of your choice, after we got back?" Ichigo asked, swallowing. Even if Ulquiorra did have the money to buy his own books, he read so much and so fast that his parents actually had to _stop_ him from going to the bookstore or library. But Ichigo knew he had hit the target because Ulquiorra's eyes lit up for a moment.

"Twenty-five." he demanded, and Ichigo swallowed. The bargaining had begun, and Ulquiorra always tried to get as many books as he could when offered a chance like this.

"Seven." Ichigo said firmly, but Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at his father.

"Stop being so stingy that you don't give a damn about me. Twenty." Ulquiorra replied, now seated on the edge of his bed. Ichigo was agape.

"Where the hell did you…?"

"Twenty-one." Ulquiorra said, upping his previous price. Ichigo quickly jumped back in again, recovering from his momentary shock.

"Nine."

"Nineteen."

"Ten."

"Fifteen."

"Twelve's the limit." Ichigo growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"…" Ulquiorra considered this for a few moments, staring down at his sock-clad feet which dangled inches above the wooden floorboards before he looked up to meet his father's gaze.

"Fourteen and a half." he said with some emotion in his voice, and his gaze was so unwavering that Ichigo was tempted to give in, but he shook his head.

"Twelve's the limit." he repeated, and Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at him sourly.

"Twelve and a half." he said finally, and Ichigo considered this before sighing and nodding "Fine.", but when he stopped to actually think it over before leaving the room he frowned "Twelve and a half? How are you going to get half a book?"

"Well, since you'll be paying, you'll pay for twelve and a half books, a total of thirteen. You'll pay for twelve books, and then half of a book, and I'll pay for the other half with my money, making a total of thirteen." Ulquiorra explained, causing Ichigo to don a look of disbelief.

"What? That's-that's not-you-can't-unfair-damnit!" he sputtered angrily, and Ulquiorra watched with a faint bit of interest and amusement.

"Of course it's fair. You already said it was okay, and you can't go back on your word." Ulquiorra was holding him to his word like the way a hooker pins down her next ten-dollar customer- there was no way out of it.

Ichigo fumed silently as he stormed out of the room, leaving Ulquiorra to pack for the camping trip. Even though one might know it or believe it, this wasn't the first time Ulquiorra had milked an extra book or two from his father.

Within the hour Ulquiorra had packed everything he would need- the basic essentials, a few changes of clothes, and a book. Well, he brought the other two things, but he only _tried_ to bring the book.

"…" Ulquiorra glared at his father over the faded cover of _Their Eyes Were Watching God_.

"I said no. We're going on a camping trip Ulqui, not a hunt to find the bookmobile." Ichigo said sternly, and Rukia took the book from Ulquiorra, who reluctantly parted with it. Reluctantly meant that Rukia had to tug the book from Ulquiorra's firm grasp and not shirk from the challenge when he began to hiss at her angrily.

"Oh-come on!" Rukia sighed as she finally succeeded in securing the book, and held it out of his reach. Ulquiorra glared venomously at Ichigo before walking past him and outside to the front gate of the house. Ichigo sighed and kissed Rukia before he went out to the gate to join their son.

Ulquiorra waited for his parents to come out, his backpack on his shoulders and a camping bag hanging from his right hand. He hugged his mother and tolerated her goodbye kisses. Ichigo hugged his wife and kissed her goodbye one last time before Ichigo and Ulquiorra set out of the bus stop, to wait for the bus that would take them out to the camping area.

But just when they were down the street, and about to turn on a corner so that the house would be out of view, Rukia's angry face appeared over the gate.

"ULQUIORRA DAISUKE KUROSAKI, YOU BRING THAT BOOK BACK RIGHT NOW!" she yelled, and Ichigo's shocked look turned to one of disbelief and anger as he saw Ulquiorra pull a book out of his backpack, the same one Rukia had taken before they left. Before Ichigo had a chance to chew Ulquiorra out about it, he dropped his things by Ichigo and trotted off with the book in his hand. He handed it back to his angry looking mother with a sigh, and looked away as she scolded him. After a minute or two passed, she hugged him again and said goodbye for the second time. He quickly walked back to his father and picked up his things again, and father and son resumed the journey in silence.

Once they got to the bus stop, and after waiting for twenty minutes for the bus before boarding, Ichigo finally couldn't take the silence anymore.

"So…er…Ulquiorra?" he asked, trying to form some topic for a conversation in his head.

"How's your training with Urahara-san going?" he asked

"Good." he only got one word, a four letter response.

"Looking forward to going to college?"

"Yes."

"Um…what do you look forward to when you get there?" Ichigo asked, knowing that Ulquiorra couldn't come up with a one word reply for this one.

"Learning."

"Oh…" well, looks like that one failed. EPICLY.

"Anything else?" he asked

"Girls." Ulquiorra replied

"WHAT?" Ichigo nearly screamed, causing everyone else on the bus, including the driver to look back at his in surprise at the sudden outburst.

"You heard me. Girls with size D cups, wearing short skirts and tank tops that show as much cleavage as they possibly can without being expelled…girls with nice soft butts that feel good to touch. And girls who are willing to do anything and always leave a few nights open for any guy…to have some fun with them." Ulquiorra raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Ichigo gasped like a dying fish out of water, and then turned red, purple, blue, and at last an unpleasant magenta color.

"You-that's-can't-I-when your mother-GAAAHHH!" everyone on the bus once again jumped and looked at Ichigo. The bus driver only looked back at the road when he heard a horn honk loudly, and saw a large transport truck heading straight at them because the bus driver had let the bus slip into the wrong lane. He grasped the wheel and jerked it to the right, pulling the bus into the right lane at the last second, and causing most of the passengers to fall out of their seats and tumble into the opposite side of the bus.

Ulquiorra's eyes winded as he saw his father's figure barreling straight at him, and quickly hopped over the seat and into the one behind him just in time for Ichigo to collide with the opposite side rather painfully, and with the good sound effect of a sickening crunch.

Ulquiorra peered over the seat, amused. Ichigo moaned and slowly got up, dropping himself into the seat. He looked back at Ulquiorra, who was bearing a very small upward twitch of the lips, a sure sign of his amusement.

"Wait a second…you were…you weren't serious?" Ichigo was shocked, and slightly relieved. The last thing he wanted was for his son to be a pervert, especially at such a young age. But then the anger began to set in.

"I can't believe that you would…! Don't ever joke about that kind of stuff again!" he muttered, but Ulquiorra actually smirked.

"Really? So, does Rukia know that you had a whole stack of Playboy magazines under your bed when you were only fifteen? And how-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Ichigo muttered again, shushing him and looking around guiltily. Ulquiorra smirked at him, but suddenly the smirk was wiped off his face and his expression turned dead serious, almost somber and as if he were longing for something.

"There's only one girl I truly care for." he murmured, looking out the window. Ichigo just barely heard this and looked at his son who had a deep and thoughtful look. But it only lasted for moments before it vanished, and his expression returned to the usual stoic and emotionless expression.

Ichigo blinked several times as if to make sure he hadn't imagined it, but he didn't have time to think it over because the bus stopped just then.

"Okay folks, this is the stop for the camping area." the driver said, turning in his seat.

Only Ichigo and Ulquiorra got up and left the bus. Almost as soon as they were off, the bus took off, zipping down the road. Ulquiorra observed the woods critically, and despite being Ulquiorra Schiffer, or now, Ulquiorra Kurosaki, the former fourth Espada of Aizen's army, even he could barely suppress a shudder.

Weeds choked the greeting sign and the sign pointing to the camping area. The woods grew thick and dark, nearly to the very edge of the road and loomed above them threateningly, only opening a small space that opened up to a narrow footpath. Overhead, the sun was suddenly blocked by a drifting cloud, shading the area, adding to the darkness and gloom, casting a sense of forbidding over everything.

"It looked…a lot better in the brochure." Ichigo said weakly, and Ulquiorra almost wanted to scoff at him in disgust and disbelief for believing what he simply read in a brochure and not coming to actually check the place out for himself.

"Maybe…maybe it's just not camping season! I bet there must be at least a few people up at the camping area." Ichigo managed to make a genuine effort to put something like hope and optimism into his voice. Ulquiorra, indifferent and feeling pessimistic, followed reluctantly.

**

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AN:

o no! camping! aaahhh, it's the Blair Witch Project all over again! lol, it isn't really, but that'd be kinda funny if it was…o well, lol. I couldn't resist the idea of Ulqui and Ichi going camping together! it seemed so funny! and don't worry, there will be a part 2 to this, but who knows what will happen in the next chapter! I don't know! lol. well, there's not much more to be said, except that I encourage people to review. both people who have already reviewed (thanks to those of you who have) and my silent readers. the only thing I don't want are flames and rants, but any positive feedback or constructive criticism is welcome. lol, I just noticed that Ulqui seemed kinda OOC in this chapter, but I think he'd be sort of a bookworm… XD anyway, please review! 


	9. Camping! Part 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

to kage-youkai-girl, lol, that WOULD be hilarious…maybe ichi should have a dream about that, thanx for reviewing! aw, thanx TeenageNeko, and thnx for another awesome review :D and thanx to Makoto-Kitty-Jeagerjauqez for reviewing!

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Ulquiorra was suddenly thankful that he had turned down Kon's offer to watch the Blair Witch Project several months ago. But he was not thankful for watching the movie one month earlier out of sheer curiosity. Images from the movie, especially the karin pile scene, and the part with the creepy stick dolls hanging from the trees came to mind as he followed his father through the woods.

Ichigo led his son into the small, dark opening that split the trees on either side of a narrow path, and considering how dark and dense the forest was, it was similar to walking through something like a wooden dungeon. The temperature seemed to drop significantly when they entered the forest, adding to the tense and chilling mood.

"Yeah…we're…almost there." Ichigo said encouragingly to Ulquiorra, though it sounded as if he were trying to reassure himself just as much as he was trying to reassure his seven year old son. But saying they were almost there was a large overstatement. Both father and son hiked over the dark trail littered with knobby tree roots, unusually large twigs, and unfriendly rocks which seemed to hold a malicious intent after tripping Ichigo three times and making Ulquiorra stumble once.

They paid close attention to where they were stepping, but in the dimness caused by the dense forest, that was hard to do. In addition to watching their steps, Ichigo, being taller, had to duck for tree branches which seemed to claw at any unsuspecting passerby, especially since you couldn't see them until your nose was inches away from one.

It took them nearly two hours to approach the clearing for the camp grounds, and when they got there, both of them were sweaty, exhausted, and dismayed when they saw the sinking sun. Ichigo straightened up, looking as if he had lost a fight with the Abominable Forest Man, and surveyed the camps grounds. Not a soul was to be seen, literally. There were no campers, no tents, and the past evidence of any camping activity in this area, left in the form of ashes, looked cold and old.

Ulquiorra viewed the entire thing with annoyance. Just for everything that had happened so far, he should've gotten an extra five books.

"Well, looks like no one's here." he muttered, but just loud enough for his father to hear. Guilt crossed Ichigo's features, along with a sense of dread.

"Well…looks like we'll just have to make the best of it." he said optimistically, and then "Ulqui, it's gonna get dark pretty soon. We should set up camp."

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes somewhat uncharacteristically. He knew that-it was oblivious, and only a fool like his father would have to be told that. Nevertheless, he followed his father to a decent spot, a little ways away from the unfriendly woods ringing them in. Ichigo took the heavy, large pack of his shoulder and set it on the ground, and began to process of extracting their tent. Ulquiorra watched him for a moment, and glanced back at the fiery disk that skimmed the horizon, the lower half already having sunk below the sharp pointed tree tops.

"Do you want me to help?" Ulquiorra asked as Ichigo began to unfold the tent. Ichigo didn't pause; instead he picked up the pace.

"Nah, its okay, Ulqui." he replied, now sorting the tent out. Ulquiorra had a slight suspicion that his father had no clue how to erect a tent.

"What about the fire?"

"The…oh! The fire, right! I nearly forgot!" Ichigo paused for a moment, and then nodded "I guess it would be a good idea to get the fire going. There are some matches in the small pocket of the inside of your duffel bag."

Ulquiorra put his hiking backpack next to his father's much larger and bulky pack, despite a good portion of its bulk being reduced when the tent was removed. He dropped his duffel bag next to it, opening it up and searched the smallest pocket inside of the bag, and found a new, unopened pack of matches.

Ulquiorra pocketed the pack, but on second thought, he put them in his father's pocket, who as puzzled by this, prompting Ulquiorra to explain.

"When I'm collecting firewood and a branch or something tears at my clothes, the matches could fall out. I don't want to go fumbling around in the darkness for the pack of matches." he explained, and Ichigo understood. Even if it was unlikely, it was always good to be safe…especially when it looked like the trees were about to uproot themselves and eat you.

Ulquiorra stayed within Ichigo's range of vision, despite his father being preoccupied by getting the tent made. Therefore, he stayed in mostly in the ring of trees, though sometimes he would glance up when bending down, and expected a knobby hand to grab his outstretched limb…

After collecting what he deemed a sufficient amount of firewood, and making several trips to deposit the large twigs and pieces of wood he found, he gathered some stones, made a fair sized circle with them, and then made a teepee with the pieces of wood he found. After doing this, he got the match booklet from his father, sat back on his heels by the small wooden teepee surrounded by stones, stuck a match on the back of the cover, and held the match to a piece of wood. He held his breath as the wood caught fire, took the match away and blew it out.

The small flame leaped over to the next piece of wood, and so on and so on until there was a good sized campfire going. The sun had set below the horizon now, leaving only very faint traces of pink and orange in the sky until that too faded, leaving darkness. Slowly, the moon came up and stars winked into existence.

Ichigo smiled at his son, glad that he had gotten the fire going before nightfall. He then stepped away from the finished tent and admired his handiwork alongside his son. The tent did not appear as if it had been hastily erected, but actually appeared quite decent looking, large enough for at least two or three people. Ichigo put their bags inside, and brought out a bag of things Rukia had packed for them when they got the fire going. In other words it was a bag of things to cook over the campfire, the most of the food items in the bag being marshmallows, crackers, and chocolate bars, but there were a few other things too.

Ichigo took a seat next to Ulquiorra, but made sure not to get too close to the boy. Ulquiorra always got agitated when anyone invaded his personal space, or even came close to invading it.

"Nice fire." Ichigo noted appreciatively.

"Nice tent." Ulquiorra replied, and even Ulquiorra could not help but smirk as Ichigo chuckled. He experimentally stuck a Poptart on the end of his long-oversized fork thingy. They had a name, but Ulquiorra had no idea what it was-all he knew was that it was used to roast things over a fire.

Ichigo slowly turned a marshmallow on his fork thingy, leaning back a bit as he watched the white puff soften.

"So…how was school?" Ichigo asked casually

"Boring." Ulquiorra stated. It was true, at least for someone of _his_ intelligence level.

"Anything else? See any cute girls?" Ichigo questioned. Ulquiorra sighed and rolled his eyes.

"No. I already told you there's only one girl I'm interested in." he reminded his father. Ichigo shifted uneasily, almost guiltily.

"Kendai Sosuke?" Ichigo was quite sure of the answer to his question.

"Yes."

"Oh…" Ichigo trailed off, at loss for words. He always felt guilty when he thought about it.

"…Do you know…what happened to Kendai-sama after I died?" Ulquiorra asked after their conversation lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Ichigo definitely felt guilty now, even more so than before.

"She…uh…well…she kind of ran away…I guess. Aizen just kicked us out pretty much. I think…that maybe his plans sort of…well his plans had something to do with her, that she was really important to his plans. Well, at least that's what I thought before…" Ichigo trailed off again. Ulquiorra, curious to hear what he had to say, urged him to go on.

"Well…Ulqui, it's just that now _I'm_ a parent, I can see how crippling the loss of your child can be…" Ichigo wrapped his arm around Ulquiorra's small figure and pulled him closer to his own body "I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you Ulqui. Both me and Rukia would be…" there seemed to be no word to describe the pain of losing one's child "I just sort of know now…I understand how Aizen must've felt after Kendai left, and not knowing where she'd gone or if she was okay."

The fire crackled, and after a moment of silence, Ulquiorra sighed in irritation and closed his eyes. Ichigo's brows came up together in confusion.

"Ulqui? Is something the matter? Am I holding you too close?" he asked, and then wondered _'Is this too emotional for him? Or too mushy or something?'_

"No, I am genuinely touched by your words, but," Ulquiorra opened his eyes again, looking at his empty fork thingy "my Poptart apparently got too hot, broke off and fell into the fire." he said grimly and quite seriously, so much that Ichigo began chuckling, until it was full blown laughter. Even Ulquiorra couldn't help but laugh a little too.

Once their laughter had subsided Ichigo pulled Ulquiorra into his lap. Ulquiorra didn't seem to mind, and in fact enjoyed the feeling of closeness and warmth, glad to feel like a child, at least for the moment. They talked about other things and roasted marshmallows, made smores, and Ichigo even attempted to lead Ulquiorra into a few verses of a campfire song.

"Ah, c'mon Ulqui. I'm sure you're not _that_ bad at singing. And even if you are, nobody's around to hear it." Ichigo snickered

"I refuse to engage in such a silly activity." was Ulquiorra's only reply, sounding very much like his old, always stoic self.

Soon the fire began to die down, and the pile of firewood shrank until only a few sparse twigs were left. The position of the moon told how late it was, and both father and son agreed to go to bed soon, and Ichigo got up to fix their sleeping bags. Ulquiorra sat by the small fire, prodding it absent mindedly with a twig when he heard a sudden yelp from behind. Startled, he dropped the twig into the fire and twisted around to see his father stumble out of the tent, squinting into the darkness inside.

Ulquiorra crawled forward on his hands and knees to his father's side, and squinted into the dimness of the tent.

"What happened?" he asked, glancing swiftly at his father.

"There…there was something in there. Something small and soft. I think it jumped out of one of our packs." Ichigo answered, peering into the dark tent.

"Small and soft…? And you said it came out of the…" Ulquiorra frowned, trying to think, and then the idea came to him. He got up, brushed himself off, and went into the tent.

"Ulqui, be careful!" Ichigo cautioned as he watched his son disappear. But not even a minute had passed when a surprised yell was heard, but the voice of whoever yelled did not belong to Ulquiorra. Moments later the boy emerged, looking slightly bemused, something struggling in his left hand which he held up for his father to see.

Ichigo blinked in surprise and sputtered.

"Kon?"

The mod soul was struggling in Ulquiorra's firm gasp yelling things like "Lemme go!" and "I'm gonna get you once I get down!" and such.

"I think this is what jumped out of the pack." Ulquiorra said, sounding amused. Ichigo slapped his forehead and moaned.

"Put me down! Unhand me!" Kon yelled, twisting around in Ulquiorra's grip. Ulquiorra let Kon fall to the ground. Kon jumped up and glared at Ulquiorra.

"What's the big idea, sneaking up on someone like that in the dark! Ya nearly gave me a heart attack, kid!" Ulquiorra merely kicked Kon away like the nuisance he was and went back into the tent. He located a flashlight in one of the packs and shined it at his father's feet.

"This could be helpful." Ichigo could detect a slight hint of sarcasm in the boy's voice, and now it was _his_ turn to roll his eyes. Ichigo went back inside the tent, and finished pulling out his sleeping bag. Then he looked for Ulqui's sleeping bag. The only problem was it that it wasn't there.

"Where…where'd your sleeping bag go?" Ichigo muttered, puzzled. Ulquiorra looked outside of the tent, and caught sight of Kon nervously fiddling with his short, stubby felt fingers.

"Kon," Ulquiorra said evenly as he stepped out of the tent, walking towards the mod soul "you were in the same pack that my sleeping bag was, weren't you?" for a seven year old of average height, Ulquiorra sure did look quite threatening and malicious to the mod soul.

"A-And-d? S-so w-wh-what-t?" Kon stuttered, getting ready to bolt.

"So where's my sleeping bag?" Ulquiorra asked in an odd, creepy voice. Kon didn't answer with words. He turned around and ran, but only managed to kick up a small cloud of dust. Ulquiorra had swooped down and grabbed the mod soul by the back of his head. He jerked the stuffed lion up to his eye level.

"Do you know what this means?" Ulquiorra smiled angrily at the mod soul, a twitch under his left eye.

Ichigo heard a frightened shout from outside of the tent. He rushed outside to see Ulquiorra holding Kon above the fire which was now stoked and of a fairly good size. Good enough to threaten a mod soul in the body of a stuffed lion.

"Ulqui, wait! What the hell-" he pulled the boy back, who put a surprisingly good resistance. It was quite comically funny actually, to see a stuffed lion struggling in the grip of a seven year old boy who was dangling the lion above the fire, while an orange haired man tried to pull the boy back.

"You-stupid-piece-of trash!" Ulquiorra snarled at the mod soul, who was screaming bloody murder. It was probably a good thing that no one was around at the camp site; otherwise some odd questions would've been raised. Such as why a seven year old boy was cursing at a stuffed lion plush.

Ichigo managed to get Ulqui not to throw Kon into the fire, and once the boy had calmed down enough for Ichigo to question him, he immediately asked-

"Why the hell were you trying to burn Kon?"

"Ask him." Ulquiorra responded irritably, jerking a small, pale thumb at the mod soul, who was still shaking in fear and whimpering. Ichigo sighed and turned to Kon.

"Kon, why was Ulquiorra trying to burn you-and don't say 'ask him'."

"Well, uh…ya see, a kid's sleeping bag can take up a surprisingly large amount of room…I mean, even after I got rid of it, it was still pretty cramped in that tiny pack." Kon answered nervously. Moments later, Ichigo was snarling at the stuffed lion and dangling him above the fire while Ulquiorra was trying to hold him back, shouting his name.

After a few minutes, Ichigo calmed down and dropped Kon by the campfire, sighing and massaging his temples.

"Well great. I guess we're just going to have to share one sleeping bag then." he said. Kon jumped up excitedly "Threesome!"

"Not you too!" both Ichi and Ulqui snapped in unison, making the mod soul huff. Kon turned his back to them, feeling hurt.

"Well fine! If you're gonna single me out like that then I don't even want to sleep with you guys! I don't even want to be in that stupid tent with you two!" the stuffed lion huffed, plopping down on the ground and crossing his arms over his chest. He waited for a few minutes, sure that they would come and beg him to come into the tent and sleep in the sleeping bag with them. Twenty minutes passed and nothing happened.

"Uh, guys?" Kon turned around, and looked around. All he saw was the tent and a dead fire.

"Guys?" he repeated, his voice becoming shrill with fear and anxiety. Somewhere an owl hooted, and an animal stepped on a twig, cracking it. Kon jumped, and made a beeline for the tent.

"Lemme in, lemme in! I'm going to DIIEEEE!" he wailed, pounding on the canvas with his soft, stubby arms. After a minute, the door of the tent unzipped itself a bit and a hand grabbed him and pulled him inside before the door was zipped close again. Inside Ichigo tossed the mod soul onto their packs which were piled in one corner of the tent. Kon sobbed quietly and eventually fell asleep a few minutes later.

In the sleeping bag, Ulquiorra wriggled a little, feeling slightly awkward. Ichigo, feeling almost as awkward, wrapped an arm around Ulquiorra. The boy now felt a bit _too _close to his father.

The moon rose higher in the sky, and soon both father and son fell asleep. Somewhere an owl hooted, and unknown to the threesome, a large shape lumbered among the trees, watching their tent with beady, glowing eyes.

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AN:

Okay, I'm probably going to wrap things up in part three, so yeah. I didn't bother to revise this chapter much, but I hoped you enjoyed it! Lol, poor Kon. Left you on kind of a cliffy there…what could the large shape be? A rock? A boulder? I'm not telling you! Lol, anyway, please review! Reviews, like air, food, water, and manga/anime are needed to survive! :D 


	10. Camping! Part 3

Disclaimer:

I don't own Bleach.

btw, Ulqui's middle name in this fic is 'Daisuke', which is the first name of his Jap voice actor, but I noticed that it sounds a lot like 'daisuki' which is Japanese for 'to like a lot', but as more of an overstatement, lol.

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"Mmm…hey baby, don't struggle." Ichigo smirked in his sleep. He was having a pleasant dream about himself and Rukia getting lost in the forest together and…well…

"C'mere you little bunny." Ichigo used one of his pet names for Rukia aloud, and brought the figure that was right next to him closer to his body, despite their protesting.

"Aw, sweet little thing." he muttered, and embraced the small figure and leaned down upon it, still dreaming, and kissed it. The figure began to protest even more, making disgusted noises and swearing at Ichigo.

Just as Ichigo was about to start taking Rukia's skimpy clothes off in his dream, he was startled awake when the flap of the tent was thrown open, exposing the dark inside to light and cold morning air. Ichigo bolted up in the sleeping bag and looked around wildly. Then he realized he was holding something small beside him, but before he could look at whoever it was, his attention was called to the figure standing in the doorway of the tent.

"Ulqui?" he asked, confused. He didn't like the way the boy was smiling maliciously at him in an evil way. Like a really creepy, evil, twisted sort of way.

"But then who-" Ichigo looked at his side and saw Kon struggling in his grip.

"Aw, you sick pervert! Making out with children's toys in the morning-you disgust me!" Kon shouted at him, thrashing about. The stuffed lion managed to free himself, and scampered out of the tent. Ichigo's gaze slowly drifted back to Ulquiorra, and then fell upon a small object in his hands. A digital camera.

"Ulquiorra Daisuke Kurosaki! What are you doing with that camera?" Ichigo yelled, turning beet red. Ulquiorra began to chuckle, laughing at his father.

"Nothing." he laughed, laughing even harder at his father's expression. Ichigo growled and swore under his breath, then lunged at Ulquiorra in an attempt to grab the camera. Ulquiorra nimbly stepped to the side, evading his father's desperate grab, and took another picture of his father sprawled in the dirt.

"Epic fail." Ulquiorra crowed softly, snapping another picture of his father turning beet red again.

After Ichigo went back inside to change, Ulquiorra already having gotten up, changed, and gotten the fire going again for breakfast, looked through the bag of food as he waited for his father. Ichigo came out wearing hiking boots, dark blue jeans and a darker blue jacket. He sat by the fire, next to Ulquiorra.

"So, what are we doing today? Hunting for bigfoot?" Ulquiorra questioned sarcastically. Ichigo grumbled something, but Ulqui didn't hear him. Ulquiorra hopefully stuck a Poptart onto the end of his fork thingy and watched it carefully as it began to cook. That Poptart wasn't burning/getting away up this time.

Ichigo rummaged through the food bag, locating a strawberry Poptart. He shoved it onto the end of his own fork thingy and cooked it by Ulqui's. They sat there for a few minutes in silence and then ate. Once Ulquiorra finished his chocolate Poptart he cleaned off his fork thingy and suddenly remembered something important.

"Is there a stream nearby?" Ulquiorra asked his father once he finished with his breakfast. Ichigo thought for a moment and then realized what Ulquiorra was getting at.

"Damnit, I forgot about that. I think there was a small stream or something nearby…"

"You think? That's all?"

"Oh give me break; I'm not a walking GPS. Now, if I remember right from the map, there should be a creek up north." Ichigo pointed to the northernmost part of the clearing, where there was a small opening. Ulquiorra started for it with a canteen in his right hand, but was stopped by Ichigo.

"Wait Ulqui! It's not safe to go alone!" he called, but Ulquiorra shook his head "I'll be fine" and with that said he took off into the parting in the thick ring of trees. Ichigo watched his son disappear and turned back to the fire. He began to collect more firewood when he spotted Kon warming himself by the blaze.

"Kon." Ichigo barked at the stuffed lion "Go follow Ulqui and make sure nothing happens to him."

The stuffed lion looked peeved about having to follow the same person who threatened to burn him a night earlier, but nonetheless the mod soul reluctantly left the warmth of the fire and followed Ulquiorra into the forest. Ichigo bent down to grab a stick of wood when he felt a malicious reiatsu, followed by a familiar roar, the call of a beast with an infinite hunger. Ichigo froze, eyes wide, but it took not even a second for him to curse, drop the firewood, and sprint into the forest.

* * *

Ulquiorra looked around when the trees on either side of him opened up to a narrow bank littered with year's worth of twigs, pine needles, and leaves. But then he heard someone shouting and turned back to the path, confused.

"AAAHHHH! SOMEONE HELP ME! ITS AFTER ME, IT'S AFTER ME!"

"Kon." Ulquiorra sighed, and waited for the mod soul to reach the end of the path. Sure enough, the stuffed lion ended up running straight into Ulquiorra's leg and fell onto the ground, crying.

"Someone save me! It's got me, it's got me!" Kon sobbed, until Ulquiorra picked him up by the scruff of his neck.

"I'm right here Kon. Quit crying and making a racket." Ulqui told Kon quietly, causing the mod soul to stop sobbing immediately.

"Oh Ulqui-chan! I'm so glad you're here now! Maybe the monster will eat you instead of me!" Kon exclaimed, hugging the boy tightly. Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow _'Ulqui-chan?'_

"Monster? What monster are you talking about, Kon?" Ulquiorra questioned, holding the mod soul up for inspection. He appeared to be fine, though Ulquiorra thought that he probably got snagged on a branch along the path and thought it was some forest monster or something like that.

"A forest monster!" the mod soul gasped. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes "Right. Forest monster."

"I'm serious! He jumped out like this!" Kon squirmed out of Ulqui's grip and mimed jumping out on the path and bearing his teeth "And when I ran, he tried to snatch me up from behind! But old Kon was too fast for him!"

"…Sure." Ulquiorra said after staring at the stuffed lion plush for a few moments. Kon jumped onto his shoulder and hung from there, looking around "Hey, so did ya find the creek Ichigo was talking about?"

"Yes, I did. There's only one problem."

"What?"

"There's no water in it."

"Huh?" Kon looked at the deep, wide rut in front of them. It appeared to be a dry creek bed, though at first glance one might not think so since it was filled with loose dirt, pine needles, and twigs. It must've dried up ages ago.

"Sucks for you guys." Kon shrugged. Ulquiorra eyed the dry creek critically, and looked up the bank. He walked east for awhile, raising some questions and concerns from Kon.

"Hey, hey Ulqui-chan! Let's not go so far from camp! I mean, what if we run into the forest monster, or a grizzly bear, or a-"

"One, there is no such thing as a forest monster-you just imagined it, two we live in Japan. Grizzlies live on the continent of North America. And three, stop panicking, we haven't gone that far." Ulquiorra told the mod soul, causing Kon to shutup except for the occasional whimper. Ulquiorra walked a little farther, but then suddenly stopped.

"What? What it is it?" Kon demanded, worried about why Ulquiorra had suddenly frozen.

"Do you hear that?" the young boy murmured

"Hear what? Is it the forest monster?"

"No. Running water." and with that, Ulquiorra began to run towards the faint sound which grew louder with every step taken. The faint sound turned to a roar as Ulquiorra ran, finally coming to a stop at a circular pool among a collection of jagged rocks. A small waterfall gushed over a twenty foot ledge and into the pool.

Ulquiorra looked around, his gaze wandering, wondering what could stop the flow of so much water. He walked downstream a few yards and found his answer. A haphazardly constructed dam made out of long-dead branches which weaved together tightly. A few droplets of water spilled out from the dead, brown pine needles and onto the dry creek bed, but it wasn't nearly enough to even make a puddle.

Ulquiorra's keen eyes then raked the rest of the scene, traveling upstream. He immediately wondered how so much water could be contained, how it would not eventually spill over the dam since its source was a gushing waterfall. He saw two ruts leading away from the pool, snaking through the dense woods. They didn't look as if they had been created naturally.

He frowned slightly. Why the hell would someone want to dry up an entire creek and divert the water from its source elsewhere? As far as he knew, there was no other campsite in the area aside from theirs, and no one lived remotely close to this place.

Curious, Ulquiorra walked over to the pool and was surprised to see a multitude of creatures in the pool, easily a hundred or more.

"Fish?" he bent down by the pool, squinting to see the many fish swimming about in the pool. There seemed to be a large concentration of fish swarming about something large. Ulquiorra got up and looked around, located a good-sized stone and threw it into the midst of the cloud of fish. A few scattered, leaving a gap, but quickly returned once the danger had safely sunk to the bottom. Something didn't sit right with Ulquiorra. Why would a bunch of fish swarm around one thing?

Ulquiorra looked up from the pool when he heard someone call his name. He saw his father running along the bank towards him, waving and shouting his name. Ichigo stopped about two yards away from him.

"Ulqui, are you okay?" Ichigo asked as he walked over to his side, eyeing him as if he were looking for any sort of injury or damage. Ulquiorra, puzzled by this behavior, merely nodded.

"The creek was dried up." he stated, and then pointed to the pool "I found out why…and I found a water source."

Ichigo looked at the waterfall and the pool "Well…from now on just don't go too far from camp."

"I told you so!" Kon hissed, hopping from Ulquiorra's shoulder to Ichigo's. Ichigo then smiled at Ulquiorra "Though I'm glad you found this place."

Ichigo knelt by the side of the pool and looked into its depths. He scooped up water in his two, joined hands, but Ulquiorra cautioned him against drinking it.

"I don't think you should drink it." Ulquiorra warned, but Ichigo just gave him a gentle smile "Don't worry Ulqui, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with this water. It looks perfectly clean." Ulquiorra bit his lower lip to keep from making a comment or pointing out the faults with that statement. Ichigo drank the water from his hands, and for a few moments it seemed fine. That was, until Ichigo started to cough and gag, spewing water back into the pool. Ulquiorra made a mental note to definitely _not_ drink from that pool now.

Ichigo got to his feet, but kept on gagging. He stumbled over to a few bushes, and vomited there, using a nearby tree for support. Ulquiorra looked concernedly at his father, touching his back lightly.

Ichigo came up, pale and slightly ill looking. He glared at the pool for a few moments, sagging against the tree.

"Guess you were right. But damnit, what the hell is in that pool? The water is sort of sour…" Ichigo wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve.

"I think something died in there. Maybe a large animal or something. Look, there are many fish swimming around something…probably eating away at whatever died. It's probably been there for a while so it rotted in the water. But I think we could get water from the waterfall, since its running water and not still like in the pool." Ulquiorra said, and Ichigo looked at him in amazement.

"Ulquiorra…" his father sounded in awe "I think that's the most I've ever heard you say in one breath."

Ulquiorra smiled slightly at his father, and helped him up. Ichigo tried the water from the waterfall and found it safe to drink. After filling the canteen, they headed back to camp. By now morning had past and the sun had risen far above their heads, though it was still quite chilly outside. Despite the cold though, something in the air and the soil told the coming of spring.

When they got back to camp Ichigo resumed collecting firewood, even through the fire had already gone out and was now just a smoking pile of ash. Ulquiorra sat back on his heels and poked the ash pile with a twig, waiting for his father to return with the firewood. When Ichigo came back he set the firewood down and observed the ash pile.

"I was thinking how about we go fishing? Even if the water's not safe to drink, the fish should be okay to eat. We might as well save our remaining food and catch dinner for tonight." he grinned at Ulquiorra "How 'bout it?"

"Sure." Ulquiorra shrugged, not caring that much. He had never gone fishing before in this life or the last, and it was the last thing on his mind. But then again wasn't that something people usually did on camping trips? Going fishing?

Ichigo and Ulquiorra started to set off towards the pool when they turned and heard a wail from behind them. Kon came running after them, sobbing "Don't leave meee!" the mod soul ran into Ulquiorra's leg and rebounded harmlessly. Both father and son stared down at the lion plush.

"Kon, stay here and watch camp." Ichigo told the mod soul, who shook his oversized head back and forth rapidly "Nuh-uh! What, so I can get eaten by the forest monster? I'm comin' with you guys!" and with that Kon jumped onto Ichigo's shoulder and hung there. Ichigo sighed and shook his head "Whatever."

"I've told him there's no such thing as a forest monster." Ulquiorra muttered, but Ichigo glanced at him. Ulquiorra didn't miss this, and raised an eyebrow "Don't tell me you too."

"Well, I'm pretty sure there isn't a forest monster around here." Ichigo said as they walked down the path, and then turned east at the bank, heading towards the pond "But I am pretty sure there's a hollow around here. I think I felt one earlier, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine that roar either. Maybe its best that we just stick together from now on."

"A hollow? Way out here? Why would it be all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, where there aren't any souls to consume." Ulquiorra mused

"Maybe its tied to something out here." Ichigo suggested as he checked the portable fishing rods that were stored away in slime tubes. He handed a child-sized one to Ulquiorra, and began to pull out his as he walked alongside his son.

"But what's there out here for it to be anchored down to?" Ulquiorra questioned.

They stopped at the pool and chose a large, flat rock to sit on which rested right by the pool. Ichigo cast out his hook after a bit of trouble, telling Ulquiorra that this could've been Ichigo's first time fishing too, but his father, sensing Ulquiorra's thoughts, hastily made excuses.

"I haven't been fishing in a long time. My dad and me used to go all the time." Ulquiorra wasn't sure whether this was to distract him from his father's clumsiness or to try to make him jealous, or both. But despite what his father's intentions might have been, it didn't succeed. They sat there in silence for nearly half an hour. The fish seemed quite uninterested in their lures, and personally, if Ulquiorra was a fish, he would've felt more scared by the feathered monstrosities rather than be tempted to bite down on one. Another half our passed without anything biting on the lure.

"Maybe we need worms or some form of live bait." Ulquiorra suggested, peering into the pool full of fish. They all skirted around the lures, not even paying them the slightest attention.

"Nah, Ulqui, it's just a matter of time is all. They key to fishing is patience." Ichigo told his son, but then his stomach growled. Ulquiorra looked slightly bemused "I think you should tell that to your stomach."

"W-Whatever." Ichigo stuttered, flushing in embarrassment.

"Maybe we should just try to grab some. Or throw Kon in and see if he can catch any." Ulquiorra suggested, causing Kon to burst out into angry tears.

"First ya try to burn me and now you're trying to drown me! Thanks a lot!" Kon yelled emotionally, hiccupping. Another hour passed without event, causing Ulquiorra to wonder if they were ever going to catch anything just using fishing rods. Maybe a spear or a fishing basket would be more useful, but logically thinking, if the fish had plenty of food, then why would they want to go for the tacky, scary looking bait? Ulqui had no idea what they were nibbling at the bottom of the pool, and had a feeling that he didn't want to find out.

Slowly, the sun began to dip lower and lower in the sky. Ulquiorra looked at his father, who still seemed to be holding out on the idea of the fish actually taking the bait.

"Dad, I'm sorry, but I don't think the fish are stupid enough to bite the bait, at least not when they've got plenty of food at the bottom of the pool." Ichigo looked almost shocked at these words, and immediately after they were spoken, hurt.

"Well, Ulqui…" he looked downcast, and Ulquiorra suddenly felt bad about having said what he had said, and quickly tried to backtrack.

"Maybe if we come back tomorrow…maybe then-"

"We're leaving tomorrow at noon." Ichigo sighed, still sounding disappointed. Ulquiorra gazed down into the pool, and then at the sinking sun. He laid his fishing rod down on the rock and knelt by the pool.

"Be careful Ulqui." Ichigo cautioned as he watched his son lean over the pool. Ulquiorra dipped his hand in and amazingly, pulled out a fish. Ichigo gaped at him "How…" the pool was so full of fish that one could simply reach in and pluck one out, but only if they were quick enough. And Ulquiorra was definitely quick enough. Ichigo slid off the rock, fishing rod lying forgotten by Ulquiorra's. He too knelt by the pool and attempted to catch a fish with his bare hands. Much to his amazement, he succeeded in catching a decent sized fish.

The fish seemed to have realized that they were being plucked out of the water near the surface and retreated farther down into the pool, but it didn't matter to Ulquiorra and Ichigo. They had a decent amount of fish, more than enough to satisfy their hunger. They piled the fish they caught in a bucket that they had brought just for that purpose, and then set out for camp.

Back at camp, Ulquiorra got the fire going while Ichigo gutted and cleaned the fish. Kon did nothing but chase his tail.

Just when the last hints of gold and orange left the sky and inky blackness began to creep in Ichigo and Ulquiorra were roasting the fish they caught over the fire. Ulquiorra took his fish off his fork thingy after it cooled off and took a bite. It was surprisingly good.

"So, what time does the bus to town come tomorrow?" Ulquiorra asked, feeling full as he put down the bones of his second fish. Ichigo was chomping away at his fifth.

"At twelve o'clock. We should be packed up at least three hours before that so we won't be late, since it will take us awhile to get through the woods and back to the road." Ichigo swallowed the last bite of his fish after speaking, and set the bones down in a pile they had made.

They sat by the campfire for awhile, talked, and then they went to bed after putting out the fire. Kon wisely scampered into the tent before they did and chose the corner where they had set their stuff down to sleep in.

It was not hard for Ulquiorra to fall asleep, being full and warm from the heat of his father's body. In only a few minutes the boy was sleeping soundly, so deeply that he did not hear the far off roar outside the tent. Ichigo, on the other hand, was wide awake.

'_That hollow…'_ he thought as he lay awake, staring at the ceiling. He could feel its reiatsu from time to time, sometimes alarmingly close to the campsite, and other times it was so far off he had trouble feeling it at all.

'_It's after us.'_ the orange haired shinigami affirmed to himself. It would only be a matter of time before it closed in on them. He wasn't worried about himself, but he was worried about Ulquiorra in case the hollow did decide to attack. If it did then he was sure he could handle it fine, but if Ulquiorra got hurt in anyway…

_RRAAAAHHHH_

The hollow's cry was alarmingly close. It was almost as if it was trying to bait him, but he dismissed that thought from his mind. Ichigo slowly got up and without awaking Kon or Ulquiorra; he rummaged through one of his bags and located his badge from Soul Society. He pressed it to his chest and his soul was separated from his gigai.

Now in his shinigami form, Ichigo quietly awoke Kon, who didn't awaken so quietly.

"Aaaahhhh! It's the sea monster Bessie! Run for Nancy, the carnival is coming!" Kon shouted, thrashing about. Ichigo hissed at the mod soul who promptly snapped out of his dream and looked around wildly.

"Huh? Who? What? Where? Nancy?" the mod soul muttered, receiving a shake from Ichigo at this. Kon blinked wearily at Ichigo.

"What the hell? It's like…something in the something night or something!" Kon whined, complaining loudly at Ichigo. Ichigo put his hand over Kon's small fabric mouth to get him to shutup.

"Kon, I'm going out to hunt the hollow that's been coming close to camp. I'm worried it might try to go for Ulquiorra if it gets the chance, but I'll kill it before it does. Watch over Ulquiorra and wake him up if anything happens. Stay on guard while I'm gone, and I should be back in an hour." Ichigo whispered, and the mod soul, wide awake now, nodded in understanding.

Ichigo took his hand off Kon's mouth, letting the mod soul go. He opened up the tent door, went outside, and ventured into the darkness, feeling for the hollow's reiatsu and following it.

Kon, back inside the tent, hurried to close the tent door with some effort. Once he succeeded in this, he looked at Ulquiorra who was still sleeping soundly, now muttering something about blue cats being stupid. Kon scurried over to the pile of bags, riffling through them until he located Ichigo's Soul Pager.

Kon used the soul pager to check the time as well as the location of the hollow. But what unnerved him at first was when he saw a lone dot on the map, meaning there was only one hollow. But it wasn't that there was just one hollow, it was what the hollow was doing. The light would blink out and then reappear far off. This pattern continued for awhile until fifty minutes later it disappeared for good.

Feeling relieved, Kon sighed gratefully.

"Looks like Ichigo took care of that one. I was starting to get worried! He'll be back in another ten minutes, just like he said before!" Kon beamed.

Yet, in ten minutes Ichigo did not return, and after twenty minutes had passed, he still hadn't come back.

"Maybe…maybe he got lost." Kon said to himself, trying to reassure himself that everything was alright. Thirty minutes passed and Kon began to worry. Forty, then fifty and then a whole hour went by and still no Ichigo.

"Probably…just got…lost…" Kon whispered feebly. After another hour went by, Kon was unable to take it any longer.

"He should've been back by now! Something's gotta be wrong!" Kon panicked. He dropped the pager and ran over to Ulquiorra who was sleeping.

"Ulquiorra! Ulquiorra! Wake up Ulquiorra!" Kon all but screamed, pounding his little fists on Ulquiorra's back. Ulquiorra muttered about a stupid cat, and rolled over, squashing Kon. Kon struggled out from underneath the child's body, gagging and gasping.

"Damn it wake up! This is no time to be fooling around!" Kon shouted tearfully, jumping on Ulquiorra's face and stomping on it. Ulquiorra's brows furrowed together in annoyance, but nonetheless he woke up at last.

"What is it Kon? I _was_ sleeping." he mumbled grumpily, putting emphasis on the word 'was'.

"That don't matter kid! Your old man is in trouble!" Kon yelped. Ulquiorra blinked at him, uncomprehending "What?"

"Ichigo's gone!"

"Huh…" Ulquiorra realized that his father was not in the sleeping bag with him. He looked at the closed tent flap, frowning.

"What? You mean he left or something?" Ulquiorra asked

"No! He went to go hunt this hollow that was threatening to come around and eat us or something and he hasn't come back for nearly two hours! Fifty minutes after he left the hollow disappeared off the soul pager, but Ichigo hasn't come back since."

"He probably got lost." Ulquiorra said simply and lay back down, about to go back to sleep. But Kon wasn't about to let that happen.

"That's what I thought too at first, but he's been gone for so long!" the mod soul howled. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes.

"Two hours isn't that long." Ulquiorra brushed it off, closing his eyes.

"Yeah but…I mean even though the hollow is gone, it kept on reappearing and disappearing before it was gone for good." Kon wailed.

"W-what?" Ulquiorra bolted upright at this, now wide wake "What did you say Kon?"

"I said that it kept on disappearing and reappearing on the pager screen before Ichigo killed it!"

"…Where's the pager?" Ulquiorra asked, climbing out of the sleeping bag. Kon handed it to him, sniffling whilst he did so. The boy checked the pager's screen, looking carefully at it. There was nothing on it, and when Ulquiorra felt for any reiatsu, he felt nothing. But something was definitely wrong. He should've at least felt his father's reiatsu.

Now, instead of feeling sleepy and warm, Ulquiorra suddenly felt cold and wide awake, his mind turning a hundred miles per hour, rolling over thousands of possibilities and answers, but each on seemed as unlikely as the next.

"Kon…where's my dad's badge?" Ulquiorra demanded. Kon hurriedly retrieved it from the place where Ichigo had previously set it down, presenting it to Ulquiorra. The boy grasped it and looked it over carefully, thinking. He sat down, motioned to Kon, who drew closer and listened to Ulquiorra.

"I think that this hollow baited my father and somehow managed to get him. I don't know what it did with him, whether he's unconscious…" Ulquiorra paused, unable to say the other course of fate that might've befallen his father "or otherwise, either way this hollow isn't charging with brute strength. It's smart and using a strategy."

"…Yeah…but…shouldn't we call for backup or something? I mean, we can't get help from Soul Society, and there's no way your mom can fight, but what about Ishida? He's an expert on hunting hollows, and since he's a doctor he could fix Ichigo up if he was hurt." Kon suggested, and it sounded convincing, but Ulquiorra shook his head.

"No. By the time Ishida-san got up here who knows what the hollow would've done to my father, or us. We can't wait any longer, nor can we wait for help to arrive."

"But…but…the hollow…" Kon whimpered

"If this hollow's strength lies in tactics and logic, then that's okay. If it wants to play a game, then I'll play it." Ulquiorra growled uncharacteristically. Kon sniffled "Ulqui?" it seemed as if the boy was ready to rise to the hollow's challenge.

"I've got a plan, Kon, but I'm going to need your help." Ulquiorra said. Kon nodded eagerly, feeling a little braver than before.

"So, what do I do?" Kon asked. He looked at Ulquiorra, who smiled down at him. But it wasn't a good kind of smile. More of an evil, sadistic, amused smile.

"Uh…U-Ulqui-chan?"

* * *

Ulquiorra leaped from branch to branch as silent as a spring breeze.

"Bakudo twenty-six, Kyokko." Ulquiorra whispered. His entire body which was cloaked in a black shihakushou wavered and then disappeared, as well as his reiatsu. He jumped to the next branch silently and swiftly, traveling at a decent pace above the forest floor. He finally stopped and rested on the branch of a tree which was among many other trees that made a circular clearing in the middle of the woods.

Ulquiorra kneeled on the branch, tense and careful not to put too much of his weight on it for fear of it snapping or creaking. The bushes at the other end of the fairly large clearing rustled, and a pale, young boy who looked exactly like Ulquiorra, except he was wearing human clothes, emerged from the bushes.

The boy was trembling and looked scared, but despite that he walked out into the middle of the clearing and looked around, as if searching for something.

'_So far everything's going according to plan. Now if the hollow just takes the bait…'_ Ulquiorra thought as he watched Kon in his gigai stumbled about in the middle of the clearing.

"Oh where oh where could my father be?" Kon said in a singsong voice, his voice several octaves higher than usual due to being so frightened. Ulquiorra hoped the hollow wouldn't see through Kon's cheesy act, and think nothing odd of it. Kon was a complete daikon, though. Hehe…Kon…daikon…

"Father! Father, where are you?" Kon yelled into the darkness, but got not reply. Ulquiorra, safe high above the clearing, resting on the branch of the tree, looked into the darkness, searching for any sign, any clue, any hint that might point towards the hollow's presence being nearby.

Kon wandered around the clearing, calling into the night for 'his father'. This went on for what seemed like half an hour, but Ulquiorra couldn't be sure. He glanced up at the moon, which was positioned high in the sky, just at its peak.

Just when Ulquiorra was thinking that the hollow was smarter than this and that he should revise the strategy as well as their plan, a shadowy figure appeared in the trees behind Kon. Ulquiorra sat up straighter and got ready to move after he stretched his sore, cramped muscles.

A large hollow, about thirteen or fourteen feet tall merged from the trees silent as a shadow. It was very thin, its limbs looking like exceptionally long and somewhat wide twigs while its body was a skinny log with a hole in it. Its fingers were like branches with leaves protruding from them, and its mask was white but covered in leaves. Ulquiorra then realized that it blended in perfectly with the trees, and that it could've been there, watching Kon just as long as Ulquiorra had.

Kon, oblivious to the danger, continued to call for his father, until the hollow was upon him, casting its thin, long shadow on him. Kon looked at the ground, trembling, and slowly turned around, his mouth falling open at the sight of the hollow.

"Hello…food." the hollow growled. Ulquiorra put a hand on his zanpakuto and prepared to launch himself at the hollow. As much as Kon annoyed him, he wasn't going to let a hollow devour the mod soul. But he was hoping that the hollow would take Kon somewhere, to a sort of nest or lair where it would've kept his father. Two birds, one stone.

"Aaahhhh…" Kon whimpered, taking one step back from the hollow that towered over him. It almost struck Ulquiorra ironically funny, that at one point in his 'life' prior to this one, he would've done the same thing, and probably had to hundreds upon thousands of people as well as hollows. But now, he was wearing black and preparing to slay a hollow with his zanpakuto, purifying the soul.

The hollow snatched up Kon who yelped and struggled weakly against the hollow's firm but delicate looking grip. It grinned at him, bearing teeth that looked like sharpened wood. It turned around and lumbered into the forest, practically disappearing between the trees. Ulquiorra took off, following it.

The hard part about following a camouflaged is that its camouflage keeps it well hidden, especially when its slipping in between trees in the middle of a forest.

Ulquiorra jumped from tree branch to tree branch, going as fast as he could without slipping and falling or running into a tree itself. At times he completely lost sight of the hollow, but kept going in the same direction, and would catch up. Other times he would have to slow down because the hollow would slow down, to avoid running straight into it, which Ulquiorra nearly did more than three times.

The closest call he had, though, was when he accidentally put too much pressure on a tree branch, causing it to creak and groan. The hollow stopped so fast that Ulquiorra was forced to jump over it, just clearing the top of its leafy mask by inches, to avoid running into it.

The hollow stood there, scanning the area suspiciously with its beady yellow eyes which were narrowed from squinting. After a few moments it muttered something about stupid animals and the wind and took off again. This time Ulquiorra was more careful when landing and jumping to tree branches.

As the moo began to sink lower in the sky, Ulquiorra wondered when the hollow was going to stop, and hoped it would be soon. He couldn't follow this thing all night, and he was pretty sure that if he killed it now he and Kon would both be lost. Just when Ulquiorra was thinking of a new plan, he saw the hollow up ahead stop.

It slowed to a stop and approached another clearing, but this one was even larger than the last. When Ulquiorra jumped on one of the trees that surrounded the clearing, he was surprised to see a large bonfire going, and a cave at one end of the clearing. The hollow slipped out of the trees and into the clearing, where it lumbered over to the fire and stood by it, as if warming itself. It still had Kon's in its grasp.

Ulquiorra critically observed the clearing, looking for anything that he might use to his advantage, and formulating his battle strategy when he noticed that there was something by the fire. It appeared to be a makeshift pole of sorts, a tall, uprooted trees stuck back into the ground at slight angle, leaning towards the fire but far away enough so that it wouldn't catch on fire. Ulquiorra nearly gasped when he saw what was on the top end of the pole.

Dangling helplessly above the fire was his unconscious father.

'_So I was right.'_ Ulquiorra thought. He watched the hollow poke his father, as if the orange haired shinigami were nothing more than meat that wasn't fully cooked.

"Good meat needs more cooking. Too tough, be more soft." the hollow grunted. Ulquiorra wondered, from its speech, how it could even be semi-intelligent. It sounded even stupider than Yammy, and that was saying something. But a thought came to Ulquiorra, and he resolved to wait.

Sure enough, probably twenty minutes later, two more shapes emerged from the trees. One of the hollows was a fairly large purple snake with a diamond shaped mask, and the other one was a sickly green frog-like hollow with a slightly oval shaped mask. The snake hollow slithered into the clearing and tasted the air with its tongue.

Not even a moment later, its yellow, slit eyes locked on the exact place where Ulquiorra was crouched, invisible.

But only seconds had passed after it looked directly at him, and the leafy, tree hollow fell into the fire, disintegrating.

"Phil?" (AN: lol, chlorophyll, chloro_phyll_, get it? because, Phil, chlorophyll, since he's a tree hollow, so…haha…nvm) the frog hollow croaked in distress, but the snake hollow's eyes widened "Behind you!" it screeched, but it was too late. The frog hollow managed to twist around just in time to see a silver flash and feel a sharp blade cut through its mask. It screamed once, and then it too disintegrated.

The snake hollow reared and struck at the invisible, fast moving foe, but all it got was a face full of dirt. Ulquiorra released his Bakudo spell which he had been using to keep himself concealed the entire time, and raised his blade above the place right where the snake hollow's head ended and the rest of its long purple, scaly body began. It writhed and bucked in a way that no normal, living snake could do, so that Ulquiorra's zanpakuto only cut halfway through its neck.

It retreated into the darkness, darkness much blacker and far more sinister than the night could provide. The hollow hissed curses at Ulquiorra as it slithered back into Hueco Mundo.

Only when Ulquiorra was sure that it would not come back did he turn his attention to the current situation at hand.

Kon was still getting up from when the tree hollow dropped him, and Ulquiorra figured he'd be okay. He then looked at his father, still dangling like a ham above the giant flame. Ulquiorra observed the position of the pole and reasoned that there was no way he could cut it so that his father wouldn't be seriously hurt from the fall, or burned by the fire.

But since it was slanted, Ulquiorra thought, maybe he could climb up it…

Ulquiorra set one sandaled foot on the large, sturdy log and began to make his way up it. It was nearly twenty feet in length, but he made the whole journey in less than a few minutes. Once he was directly above his father he sheathed his zanpakuto and then began the careful process of extracting him from the tangle of branches which held him there. This already tedious and dangerous work was made even more hazardous by the fact that if he made one mistake, he or his father could go plunging into the roaring bonfire directly beneath them.

Ulquiorra slowly pulled his father onto the log and out of the snarl of branches which had previously imprisoned him. Once he had his father's entire body out of the branches, he slowly made his way down the log, being extremely careful not to fall or drop Ichigo. Once he made it to the bottom, Kon rushed over to them.

"Is he alright? Is he dead? Is he in a coma? Is he-" Ulquiorra held up one slightly scratched hand to stop Kon's stream of babble and shook his head.

"No. He's merely unconscious." just as Ulquiorra spoke those words, Ichigo began to stir.

"Uuuhhnnn…" he moaned, opening one eye, and then the other. He sat up, rubbing his head, and looked around.

"Ulqui? What are you…where…?" Ichigo looked blearily around the clearing, frowning as his eyebrows drew together in their usual manner. Ulquiorra was almost surprised they hadn't stayed that way, since he had assumed they were just permanently fixed that way from so many years of nonstop scowling.

"The hollows that took you are gone." Ulquiorra said softly, and Ichigo turned to him, since he had been facing Kon in Ulquiorra's gigai.

"Ulqui…" Ichigo was at loss for words when he saw Ulquiorra in the black shihakushou "You left your gigai?"

"Yes. I fought off the hollows that attacked you." he said, and then "With some help from Kon."

"Jeez, that's all the thanks I get?" Kon muttered hotly, glaring at Ulquiorra and crossing his arms over his chest.

"What did Kon do?" Ichigo questioned, puzzled.

"He acted as bait so I could follow the hollow that took you back to this place." Ulquiorra answered

"So then…you fought off those hollows all by yourself?" Ichigo asked, amazed. Ulquiorra nodded.

"Well…that was pretty dangerous Ulqui…" Ichigo said in a gruff voice "but I'm thankful that you did it." he smiled at his son, feeling the pride that parents do when they see their children do something amazing. (AN: "Oh yes, my child is enrolled in gymnastics, but what does your son do?" "My son slays soul eating monsters for fun and training-just sort of a recreational thing, ya know?" "…" ,lol, I could so imagine that!)

Ichigo hugged his son, but as soon as their bodies made contact, a hissing voice came from somewhere in the clearing. It was impossible to pinpoint, since it sounded like it was coming from all around them.

"How touching…and how fitting to say farewell in such a way…before you _die!_" on the last word, multiple portals opened up and multiple hollows appeared. Ichigo gaped at the small army of hollows that was now forming a solid ring around them while Ulquiorra but a hand on his zanpakuto. Ichigo started to stand up when he doubled over and hissed in pain.

Ulquiorra whipped around, concern in his emerald green eyes "Dad!" he knelt by his father, and felt the place where his father had clamped his hand over. On his side, inches above his thigh, there was a horrible wound, which from what Ulquiorra could tell, was poisoned.

"You two will make excellent meals…" the snake hollow hissed, flicking out its tongue. Ulquiorra turned back to the hollow and drew out his zanpakuto, assuming a fighting stance. But when ten hollows charged all at once, followed by another forty or fifty, Ulquiorra knew there was no way he could fight them all off.

Just as the first hollow, the one at the front of the pack, opened its maw as if preparing to swallow both father and son whole, a blue light flashed and its head exploded. The disintegrating body fell to the ground, and just as the other hollows stopped, puzzled by this just as much as the shinigami were, a rain of similar blue lights came down. All at once, the hollows dispersed into what seemed to be a giant dust cloud from all the disintegrating.

"What is this! More shinigami!" the snake hollow hissed as it recoiled, outraged and shocked.

"Don't associate me with shinigami, you hollow filth." a voice said, and just like the snake hollow before it showed itself, this voice was impossible to pinpoint.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" the snake hollow growled, and the ring of hollows wavered at this new, unknown threat. A figure, framed by the moon, appeared on one of the tallest branches of a nearby tree.

"My name is Uryuu Ishida, and I am a Quincy." was all the man said before he raised his arm and a glowing bow resembling a net appeared. He pulled his finger back on an invisible arrow, and released it. Or so it appeared. His hand was just a blur in the faint brightness of the glowing light, but the hundreds of glowing, blue arrows he shot was enough to illuminate the area more than the bonfire did.

In mere seconds a small army of hollows were eliminated.

As the snake hollow disintegrated in hissed curses at the Quincy, but he ignored this and finished off every last hollow. When the man had finished, he leapt to the ground and landed gracefully and smirked in the direction of the shinigami.

"Kurosaki Ichigo. Well, well, looks like you needed my help again. Lucky I got here in time to save you." Uryuu smirked, but Ichigo gradually overcame his shock at seeing his old friend again, so that he could come up with a clever retort.

"You didn't save us!" clever indeed "How the hell did you get here anyway? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ah, I believe your son called me and told me what had happened via your soul pager. He told me that he would go to look for you himself, but requested that I come incase anything were to happen. I was more than willing to oblige of course, anything to help out an old friend, especially when he needed saving." Uryuu explained, still smirking.

Ichigo looked at his son in disbelief "You called _him?_ When you could've called Urahara-san, or Yoruichi-san, or _anyone other than Uryuu Ishida?_"

"Actually, I think I was the best choice and Ulquiorra thought it out well. Unlike you, Kurosaki, who would've just gone charging blindly off into the woods without a plan. Honestly, going after a hollow in the middle of the night in unfamiliar surroundings, when it was _obliviously_ baiting you…that's even more foolish than your usual standard of foolish things." Uryuu sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose like he always did, which irritated the hell out of Ichigo. How many times did the guy have to push his glasses up? Was the bridge of his nose buttered or something?

"Whatever…besides, why were you saying that you saved me 'again'? You've never saved me in any situation, much less saved my life!" Ichigo shot back, trying to scavenge what was left of his pride.

"Really? You forgot about the time you just _had_ to go peeking inside the girl's shower room at high school and I saved you from-"

"Okay, whatever, but that's-"

"And then again in college when you really wanted to get a peek at Rukia without any clothes on?" Uryuu sounded highly amused now. Ichigo's face turned redder than Ulquiorra had ever seen it turn. Ichigo glanced at Ulquiorra, who looked quiet interested in what Uryuu was saying.

"Really?" Ulquiorra asked softly

"Yes, your father is quite the-" Uryuu began, but Ichigo stopped him.

"Alright, alright, fine, whatever, but what I want to know is how the hell you got out here so fast!"

"Oh, I just came in my private chopper." Uryuu said calmly, just as a helicopter appeared over the tree tops. Ichigo's mouth fell open again, and even Ulquiorra looked mildly impressed.

"It seems like both you and your son have gone through a lot tonight. Would you like a ride back to the city?" Uryuu offered innocently, but Ichigo knew there had to be some double-sided, underhanded, evil meaning to this seemingly simple offer.

Ichigo got up, grimacing from the pain of the poison in his wound, but he could tell that the poison was starting to wear away as his body slowly fought it off.

"What's the catch, Ishida?" he called, as Uryuu crossed the clearing. The helicopter hovered above the clearing and let down a ladder, which hung only two feet off the ground. Ulquiorra started forward, almost forgetting his father who had to limp due to his injury. Ulquiorra waited for him, and helped support him as they made their way to the rope ladder which Uryuu had already begun to ascend.

"…" Uryuu had several smart comments on the tip of his tongue but refrained from saying anything, partly because of Ulquiorra's sake. It was bad enough his father was moron who couldn't come up with a decent comeback, much less refrain from being a pervert.

"Are you going to be able to get up alright?" Ulquiorra asked once they got to the ladder. Ichigo nodded "Yeah. You go first though."

Ulquiorra was slightly doubtful but nonetheless went before Ichigo, but before Ichigo went he sent Kon up, so he was the last to go. When Ichigo was halfway up the ladder, the helicopter began to rise.

"Waahh!" Ichigo nearly lost his grip on the metal rung tied into the rope when the ground dropped away at a sickening pace.

"What the hell Ishida!" he nearly screamed up at Uryuu who was smirking down at him. He turned to Ulquiorra who was pointing east, and then Uryuu said something to the pilot who took off in that direction. The ladder swayed in the air, and Ichigo had a slight sea-sick sensation in the pit of his stomach.

"What's the matter Kurosaki? Can't climb up the rest of the way?" there was a hint of mocking in Uryuu's voice. Ichigo grit his teeth, and after a while he managed to make his way up the ladder and into the helicopter. Ichigo climbed in with a little help from Ulquiorra, who leaned over and pulled his father up with a surprising amount of strength considering he was only seven.

"Ishida-san is taking us back to our campsite before we go back to the city, so we can get our things." Ulquiorra explained to his father, who nodded silently. It was not long before they reached the campsite, which was conveniently large enough to allow a helicopter to land.

Once Ichigo and Ulquiorra had gotten out of the helicopter they got back into their gigais. Kon was put back into the stuffed lion, and complained subtly of this, but not much since he was generally used to it by now. Once done packing, Ulquiorra handed his father back his Soul Pager, but as soon as it touched Ichigo's hand, it began to vibrate.

Ichigo flipped it open, expecting a call from Soul Society, but was surprised to hear Orihime's voice.

"Ichigo? Ichigo?"

"Yeah Orihime, what is it? Is something wrong?"

"Well…uh, you see, Rukia's water just broke."

"WWHHHHAAAAATTTT?" frightened birds took flight from their nests and perches in the trees while Ichigo's scream echoed in the forest faintly. Uryuu, who took this as something normal, looked at Ichigo in annoyance.

"Hurry up Kurosaki! It'll be dawn soon." Uryuu called as Ichigo hung up and rushed over to the helicopter, which was already rotating its blades, getting ready to take off. Ichigo ducked against the gale that was being created by the blades which were now rapidly rotating. He ran back to the helicopter and got in just as it hovered a foot off the ground and began to gain lift. Uryuu pulled him in, shutting the door behind him.

"So what happened?" Uryuu asked dryly as Ichigo settled next to Ulquiorra, opposite of Uryuu so that he was facing the Quincy.

"Rukia's water broke!" Ichigo blurted

"What?" Uryuu gasped

"What?" Ulquiorra echoed him

"Nancy?" Kon shouted in his sleep, much to the confusion of everyone.

"Well then, I guess we better hurry up and get back to your clinic." Uryuu said seriously, and then said something in a language neither Ulquiorra or Ichigo understood. He spoke to the pilot and the pilot responded in similar. They conversed quickly for what seemed like a minute, and then the helicopter seemed to go faster.

"What did you say to him?" Ichigo asked after Uryuu had finished speaking with their pilot.

"I merely asked him to fly to the Kurosaki clinic, and we're in a hurry." Uryuu responded.

"What language were you speaking in, Ishida-san? Was it German?" Ulquiorra asked. Uryuu smiled at him.

"Yes, you're correct Ulquiorra. How could you tell?"

"I've studied a little bit of most Western languages so I can get the general drift of most conversations." Ulquiorra said modestly. In his previous life, he had been a linguistic expert, being able to speak almost every language on the European continent as well as several other prominent Asian languages and other Western languages. If you could name it, Ulquiorra could speak it as fluently as if that had been his first language. He was sort of the cousin of the walking dictionary.

"My, how impressive. You must have inherited your mother's ability for retaining information well, and being able to think logically." Uryuu complimented. Ichigo scowled at him, despite his panic.

"What about me? I was twenty-third in our class ranking, wasn't I?"

"Only twenty-three?" Ulquiorra asked skeptically, making Ichigo flush "Yes, twenty-three."

"I was always at the top of the list, number one. And Orihime was ranked number three." Uryuu stated, earning an impressed look from Ulquiorra, who was quite hard to impress. Ichigo sank down a bit in his seat and looked out the window. The moon was sinking lower and lower towards the horizon.

The Kurosaki clinic came into view shortly after this, though there was not nearly enough space anywhere close to the clinic for the pilot to land and take off again. So he hovered as close to the ground as he could get and they let down the rope ladder.

Ulquiorra climbed out first with his bags, Kon clinging to his shoulder and struggling to hang on due to the force the rotating blades were creating. Once he was safely on the ground, Ichigo began to descend.

"Give my regards to Rukia-san!" Uryuu called down to the orange haired shinigami who nodded up at him and waved once he was on the ground. Uryuu pulled up the ladder and closed the door and the helicopter took off towards the north, disappearing into the sky which was gradually growing lighter.

They watched the helicopter disappear from sight, and then Ichigo screamed, suddenly remembering that Rukia was having their second child inside the clinic, and he was standing outside watching his friend's helicopter disappear from view like an idiot. Ichigo dropped his bags and ran inside. Curious neighbors who had been awakened by the noise from the helicopter were made even more curious by Ichigo's panicked scream.

Ulquiorra sighed and lugged his bags back inside. Kon scampered off, probably to the room Rukia was in, and didn't even bother to lend a hand. Well, he didn't really have hands to begin with, and a stuffed lion probably couldn't even budge the bags still sitting outside, but still the gesture would've been a little nice, even for Ulquiorra who was tired and worn down from the night's events.

He brought in the last bags, and just as he was about to head upstairs, one of his aunts appeared.

"Ulquiorra?" Yuzu called softly "Ulquiorra, do you want to be by your mother's side? Your little sibling is coming."

Ulquiorra interpreted that as 'do you want to see your mom give birth to your new baby brother/sister'. Ulquiorra rolled it over in his tired mind and decided what the hell. It wasn't everyday you got to see your mom give birth to your little sibling.

Ulquiorra followed her into the room where Rukia was. The child was being born in the lower part of their house, on the first floor in one of the rooms in the hallway. The clinic.

When Ulquiorra walked in he saw his mother crushing his father's hand whilst she groaned, being encouraged by Aunt Karin who was saying "I can see the head! Push, push!"

Ulquiorra, for the dear sake of the reader's, will not go into detail about what he saw.

But, once the child had been born, Karin deemed it was a girl and cleaned her off, wrapping her in a fresh yellow blanket. Sunlight from the rising sun filtered in through the open window and into the room. Rukia cradled the baby girl in her arms, and then caught sight of Ulquiorra, standing by himself in the shadows. She motioned weakly for him to come over.

Ulquiorra stepped out of the shadows, and joined his family, which stood around Rukia and their newest addition.

"What's her name?" Ulquiorra was almost surprised by the softness in his voice. Rukia, was not. She smiled at him.

"I haven't decided yet, but…" Rukia gazed out the open window, looking at the light that splashed everything in new, fresh color "I think I'll name her Hikari."

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so, how'da like that? the word 'hikari' means 'light' in Japanese. I think it's an adjective, but it may be a noun. there are other words for 'light' but some are verbs I think. I'm not really sure because I'm on summer break and I haven't reviewed my Japanese often, hehe. I thought it'd be fitting if Uryuu spoke German to his pilot, since Quincy's and German stuff go kinda hand in hand in Bleach. also, 'daikon' is a Japanese term to describe someone with poor acting skills. it literally means 'wooden actor' so I guess in other words just being sort of stiff and cheesy or whatever. I went through a very quick review on this, otherwise there are probably a lot of grammar mistakes, idk. would've gotten this chapter up three days earlier if it weren't for my stupid internet crashing, but oh well. you all know the drill, REVIEW. please…for Ulqui and Hikari? =)


	11. Aunt Karin and Aunt Yuzu!

Disclaimer:

I don't own Bleach.

To Teenage Neko, aw, thanx for reviewing again! Hope your week went well :D .To Cayannamon, lol that would be sososo funny and cute! And to kage-youkai girl, thanx a lot! also, to grocamol thanks, hope you keep following this story! and thnx to Xylexia for reviewing as well. wow, it feels like a long time since I've updated, sry bout the wait but here it is!

* * *

It seemed that almost everybody was asleep in the Kurosaki household. Well, almost everybody.

Rukia and Hikari were both sleeping, for apparently giving birth and being born were both quite tiring. Orihime had slipped off after congratulating Rukia and cradling Hikari for a few moments before gently giving her back to her mother. Ulquiorra was currently lying face down on his bed, about to drift off to sleep, blissfully deep, orange-haired-idiot-free-sleep, when there came a knock on his closed door.

Not knowing who or what to expect, Ulquiorra muttered "Come in!" but because it was muffled by the fabric and because he was so darn tired, it sounded more like "Cmumimn!"

"Ulqui?" Ichigo questioned as he stepped into Ulquiorra's room. Ulquiorra sighed in his mind, his last and only refuge.

"Before you went to sleep, I just wanted to tell you that your aunts will be staying with us for about a month." Ichigo said quietly, and then slipped out, closing the door behind him. Ulquiorra closed his eyes and sighed into his pillow "Oh."

But then the full meaning of his father's statement hit him.

"Damnit!" and after screaming aloud into his pillow once realizing that Aunt Yuzu and Aunt Karin would be staying with them for a full month, Ulquiorra fell soundly asleep, eventually dreaming of pirate penguins and flying cookies which gave him a ride to his new school.

When Ulquiorra awoke the next morning his stomach began to growl loudly. Turning over, Ulquiorra sat up dazedly, still half-asleep. He blinked several times to clear his blurry vision, yawned, stretched, and then got off his bed and crept out into the hallway.

He snuck downstairs and into the kitchen, trying to be as silently as he was capable of being. Ulquiorra found Aunt Yuzu asleep and drooling over the kitchen table, half sprawled on its surface. Ulquiorra made a mental note to thoroughly disinfect the table before eating off it again.

Making his way over to the fridge, he opened it to find-

"Food." Ulquiorra muttered pitifully, his stomach growling in anticipation. Ulquiorra didn't feel like actually sitting down and eating breakfast (but where was he going to sit down and eat when his Aunt was taking up a good part of the table and drooling over it?). So he grabbed a blueberry muffin, a cup of cream cheese, and a plastic knife and snuck away into the living room with his goods.

Unfortunately, sprawled out on the couch was Aunt Karin who was snoring peacefully. Ulquiorra bit the inside his cheek in annoyance and began heading towards his room. Once he reached the relative safety of his own semi-personal space, he set out to make himself breakfast, aka cutting the bagel in half and spreading cream cheese on both halves.

After slathering cream cheese on the two halves of the bagel, Ulquiorra began to viciously tear at the top half, which was gone in a little over a minute. He then began to attack to bottom half, but halfway through wolfing down his breakfast, he heard crying from downstairs.

Curious, he put down what was left of the bagel and wandered back downstairs. He found the crying was coming from the living room, from a crib pushed against the back wall, a small cartoonish solar system suspended above it.

Ulquiorra peered down into his little sister's crib. He looked back at Aunt Karin who was still sleeping soundly. Ulquiorra tried to shake her awake and called her name, but she continued to snore away contentedly. His first thought was to wake Aunt Yuzu, but she should've been awakened by now by Hikari's cries, and if she hadn't then there was little chance she would wake up soon at all.

Contemplating the thought of waking up his mother or father, he did away with the idea as soon as he looked into the crib. Surely he, with his superior intellect and vast array of knowledge, could take care of his baby sister!

Ulquiorra carefully picked up Hikari with a little effort, and held her, suddenly unsure of what to do. At last until he caught scent of something which suggested what the problem might be. Wrinkling his nose, Ulquiorra found a place to set Hikari down and then proceeded to find a clean diaper for her. He located several in the bag by Aunt Karin, who was still snoring, making Ulquiorra wonder if she could sleep through a hurricane.

After some confusion, a few curses, and some frustration, Ulquiorra finally succeeded in his task. Hikari quieted down and fell asleep again shortly. Ulquiorra picked her up gently, cradling his baby sister in his arms. He looked at her for a few moments, studying her face and her little hands and her tiny fingers.

But after those few moments were up, Ulquiorra placed her back in her crib, leaning over on the tips of his toes. Once he turned around, he wasn't the least bit surprised to see his father standing in the doorway, smiling at him.

Ichigo crossed the space between them, stopping beside Hikari's crib, next to his son. He reached down, softly stroking his daughter's forehead, and turned back to his son.

"You did pretty well." he smirked quietly. Ulquiorra just shrugged, but his father put one hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. They both withdrew into the kitchen, where Ichigo pulled out a carton of milk, but just as he was about to drink directly from it, Ulquiorra stopped him.

"Get a glass. You have two working arms and hands, don't you?"

"Aw, c'mon Ulqui, I'm your dad. You're not gonna get anything from me." Ichigo whined, but under Ulquiorra's unwavering gaze, he pulled out a cup while muttering complaints and poured the milk into the cup.

"You got up early." Ichigo noted, but after him seeing Ulquiorra's questioning look, he elaborated "It's five in the morning."

"That's not early." Ulquiorra protested, but upon remembering something important, he left the kitchen immediately. Ichigo raised an orange eyebrow at his son's hastily retreating back. He looked into his cup, which was now empty. Glancing furtively at the fridge, he quickly grabbed the milk carton and discarded the cup.

* * *

Ulquiorra sat in his room, at his desk, and studied. He first began with mathematics, but just as he was about to go onto the next subject, his door flew open.

Ulquiorra jumped when the door was nearly thrown off its hinges, and he was almost even more shocked when a light brown head stuck itself in the doorway. Two brown eyes sparkled energetically at him, and a smile split the face that had crossed the threshold of his room. Followed by Aunt Yuzu was Aunt Karin, who marched into his room and looked at the papers and text books sprawled over his desk, then frowned at the boy sitting behind all of it.

"What are you doing?" she demanded in such a tone that caught Ulquiorra completely off guard. He was so stunned that he couldn't even speak, lest answer her question.

"Instead of doodling and staying cooped up in this room, you should get outside and get some fresh air." she said, grabbing his arm. Yuzu curiously drifted over to the desk that he had been sitting at and inspected the array of material laid out upon it.

"Wah! These are real textbooks Karin! Oh, how cute, he must've been playing school!" Yuzu exclaimed, clasping her hands together and giggling. Ulquiorra stared at her, almost unable to comprehend how these two females had suddenly barged in and were now insulting his intelligence on the whole.

Karin looked over her sister's shoulder, frowning down at the papers splayed on the surface of the desk.

"Is this one of your father's medical books? You shouldn't be playing with this, Ulquiorra." she chided as she picked up the book. Several bookmarks fell out, and when Karin noticed this, she frowned even more.

"You shouldn't be sticking these little pieces of paper in your father's books. These are grownup books, and they're not for children." Karin scolded, dragging him downstairs. When she saw Ichigo in the kitchen, she went over to him, dragging Ulquiorra with her.

"Why can't you take better care of your things? I found this upstairs in Ulquiorra's room. He was playing with it or something." Karin said as she waved the book in front of her brother's face. Ichigo blinked at it stupidly, his eyes going between his younger sister and his son.

"Oh…er…well…" he tried awkwardly

"Really Ichigo." she sighed, handing him the book "I know you must be busy most of the time, but you should at least be able to spare your son some attention once in a while. I mean, he's always in the dark, dingy room most of the time-no wonder he's so pale!"

The look in Ulquiorra's eye was murderous, something Ichigo didn't think he had ever seen before. It scared him very much.

"Uh…Karin…" Ichigo tried feebly, but to his dismay, Karin ran over what he was going to say with her own words.

"I understand what's going on. As a pediatric nurse, I've seen this kind of thing plenty of times before. Neglected children often do things like this to get attention, because that's what they really crave. I think spending some time with him and getting out of the house would be good for him." Karin explained. Ichigo raised an eyebrow, seriously considering this possibility.

"Um, Karin…." he tried vainly.

"I'll take him shopping with me and Yuzu today. It will be good for him." Karin declared, letting go of her nephew and going back upstairs to Yuzu, but before she left the kitchen, she added "You should also be firm and tell him who's the boss-you shouldn't spoil your children."

When she was upstairs, Ichigo looked down at his son, who was glaring at him with enough intensity to burn a whole through him…sort of like that time Ulquiorra used a Cero Oscuras point-blank before he died…

"Ulquiorra…um…listen…just be nice to your aunts and be cooperative…" Ichigo said slowly and hesitantly.

"That woman," Ulquiorra snarled "Is more thickheaded than five layers of concrete."

"Don't say that about my sister." Ichigo frowned down at him, offended.

"I'll slit my throat and let hollows at my corpse before I go _anywhere_ with her." he growled. Ichigo was almost afraid he meant it, and quickly tried to think of a way to bribe his son.

"Please Ulquiorra…look…" Ichigo quickly looked around, then dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together, assuming a begging position "I'll do anything just as long as you get along with them. I know you hate being treated like a child…but well…"

"Well what?" the seven year old demanded angrily

"You are a child." Ichigo said truthfully, wincing, almost expecting an outburst. It wouldn't be the first time he provoked one from Ulquiorra, even though the last he could remember was from Ulquiorra's past life as an arrancar. Getting hit with that stupid green energy spear hurt like hell. Oh well…at least it's not like Ulquiorra had it now…or did he?

"You're infuriating." Ulquiorra said in a deadly quiet voice, but Ichigo sensed a hint of victory.

"So…will you go with them? Just for today? And then I'll make sure that they don't bother you again…" Ichigo promised, trying not to whine. Whining was unbecoming in a man with two children, especially when one was the former fourth Espada.

"You said you'd do anything." Ulquiorra said quietly. Ichigo looked at him bewildered, and then remembered his previous statement.

"Oh! Uh…well, you probably don't need me to do anything-"

"Actually…there are a few things I could think of." Ulquiorra said, an evil smirk slowly creeping onto his face. Ichigo hoped that didn't become a habit.

"Uh…well, I'm sure…" he started nervously

"On the day Aunt Karin and Yuzu leave, I want you to dress up like a ballerina and tap dance in the front yard for twenty minutes." Ulquiorra said softly. Ichigo's face distorted into an expression of utter shock and horror.

"WHAT THE HELL ULQUIORRA?" he screamed, eyes bulging. Alarmed shouts could be heard upstairs.

"You heard me. You'll wear a tutu. Pink, with tights…a tiara…maybe some fairy wings to go with it…" Ulquiorra said, as if already picturing it "I'll have Ishida-san design it."

Ichigo nearly died when heard those words.

"Why?" he whimpered pitifully.

"Because," Ulquiorra said, smirking again "if I have to suffer, then you must as well."

Ichigo was beginning to wonder just how evil Ulquiorra truly was.

* * *

"Ah! Kawaii desu yo!"(_Japanese for: So cute!_) Yuzu squealed, slapping her cheeks as she admired her nephew as he stepped out of the dressing room. He was wearing a green sailor's outfit, complete with the sailing hat and the funny little shoes, which were black. It was actually pretty cute…except for the smoldering green gaze that appeared as a portal straight into hell.

"Is there anything else you picked out?" Ulquiorra asked, straining not to snarl at her. He quickly regretted that question.

"Oh yeah! I picked out so many cute things!" Yuzu exclaimed happily. To Ulquiorra's horror, she pulled out a pink bunny suit from the mountain of clothing next to her.

"Smile Ulquiorra." Karin told her nephew in a bored voice. Instead he scowled as he turned to her, just in time to get blinded by a flash.

"Does that have to be on flash? There's enough light in here." he complained, but Karin ignored this and instead looked at the picture she had taken.

"Don't complain." she told him "Now try on the next outfit your Aunt picked out for you."

"I thought we were going shopping." Ulquiorra muttered, rejecting the outfit that Yuzu was trying to press upon him.

"We are. We're also going to get you some new things to wear. Your wardrobe is mostly black and green, and I don't know _how_ your parents let it get that way, but it's time for a change. We'll shop for other things after this." Karin responded as she adjusted the camera's settings. They were at the mall, in a clothing store.

"I don't need a change." Ulquiorra gasped, almost being smothered by the bunny suit now.

"Yes you do. Don't argue." Karin told him without even sparing him a glance.

Ulquiorra managed to free himself from the oppression of the bunny suit in a burst of strength. He glared at the fuzzy pink material.

"I don't need something like _that._" he said venomously, pointing at the suit which Yuzu was holding.

"Don't point, its rude." Karin ordered, earning herself an angry and unbelieving look from her nephew "And don't look like that. It's unbecoming in a child. People will get the wrong idea."

After the twins had forced Ulquiorra to try on article after article of clothing, they left the store with five purchases, one including the sailor outfit. Ulquiorra felt as if he had gone through absolute hell, but little did he know that it was just the beginning.

After going shopping at the clothing store, they dragged Ulquiorra to a shoe store, where they spent at least two hours. In the store, Ulquiorra sat on a footstool and stared down the endless shelves of shoes. Somewhere in the aisle next to the one he was sitting in he could hear Yuzu ecstatically admiring a pair of cute shoes with her sister.

Ulquiorra turned his head towards the source of the noise, and then looked back down the aisle with a tortured expression on his face.

After shoe shopping, the twins dragged him into a store the sold body spray, scented bath items, and scented candles. Ulquiorra couldn't conceal his horror when Yuzu turned on him with a bottle of sakura scented body spray in her hand.

"Look! Doesn't this smell good?" she asked her nephew, ready to spry him. Ulquiorra tried to back up, but bumped into his other aunt who frowned down at him.

"Don't play around in this store." she scolded. Ulquiorra glared at her murderously, which she brushed off. Just as Ulquiorra opened his mouth, armed with a smart retort, he was sprayed by the other twin. He began to cough and gag on the over-powered scent of artificial cherry blossoms while Yuzu giggled happily.

Staggering away, Ulquiorra glared back at his two aunts. He rubbed the remaining spray off his face and reached into his pocket, taking out his iPhone 19. He used it to check his business stats and answer a few messages. Then he wondered why he hadn't just looked on the internet via his cellphone when they were at the shoe store so he could keep himself busy.

Ulquiorra found a place to stand where no one would bother him much and began to check his inbox. But as his stupid luck would have it, Karin saw her nephew looking at something in his hand, his attention absorbed by it. She put down a tube of peach scented lotion and drifted over to where Ulquiorra was.

"Ulquiorra, where did you get that?" she asked, looking over his shoulder. If she didn't know better it was the iPhone 19, the newest model which had been previewed only a month ago. The iPhone 18 had just barely come out, and was the most advanced and expensive phone on the market.

"I bought it." he said truthfully. When you ran your own world-famous manga series it wasn't too hard to get things which generally weren't available to the public.

"Don't lie-"

"I'm not lying. Ask my father if you doubt my claims so much." he said icily, glancing up from the screen to glare at her. Karin felt flustered for a moment, having never been talked back to by a child like that before. It was sort of like having a cute hamster snarl at you.

"Don't talk back to me like-"

"I was merely making a suggestion." he said coolly, cutting her off, and then added "And by the way, I paid for this phone and I pay the bills too, making it completely mine. So don't even think about 'taking it away'."

Karin was about to open her mouth furiously, but Ulquiorra was on a roll now.

"You know, I found out something interesting about you. Apparently you were fired from your last job because you slapped your boss whom you had been dating, just because he broke up with you."

Karin reeled back in absolute shock, agape. How did he know that?

"Also, you've been out of work for nearly six months now and have failed to find a job, yet you haven't told my father." Ulquiorra said, smirking. He didn't have to even glance at her to know he had her cornered. Ah, how handy your own private source of information about just about anyone could be.

"So, why don't we make a deal? I won't tell my father that you're out of work, and you won't treat me like your slave/ a badly misbehaved child." he lifted his gaze to her casually. She nodded, looking almost frightened. Ulquiorra smiled at her.

"Good. Maybe we'll get along better from this point on." he said as he slipped his iPhone into his pocket and wandered over to Yuzu who was making her purchase.

'_What kind of child are you raising Nii-san?'_ Karin wondered, thinking about how scary and adult-like her nephew had suddenly become.

* * *

"Ah…" Yuzu, Karin, and Ulquiorra were standing at the bus stop that was a short walk away from the mall. Ulquiorra's incredibly intelligent aunts had forgotten to check the bus schedule, and they would be stuck there for another two hours, since it was too far away to walk to the Kurosaki clinic.

"I guess we just have to wait." Yuzu said meekly. Ulquiorra rolled his emerald green eyes, and sighed. Karin looked at him, frowning, but held her tongue.

"You know, if you keep frowning like that you'll get wrinkles." Ulquiorra said blandly. Karin glared at him, and he felt the need to elaborate for some odd reason, which was somewhat unlike him.

"You're a human." he added.

"Well what else would I be?" Karin sneered, losing her temper.

"…Well considering the fact that you're a human and not a shinigami like your brother, you'll keep on aging until you die. So therefore it would be sensible to frown less due to the fact that in time when you begin to age more it will leave wrinkles." Ulquiorra explained patiently, as if saying something to a young child, which was rather ironic if you thought about the whole situation.

Karin blinked at him, surprised.

"You…you know you're a shinigami?" she asked hesitantly

"Yes." he responded

"…Oh…" Karin suddenly remembered something her brother had told her soon after Ulquiorra had been born. Something about the arrancar…something that might've been bad…but Karin couldn't recall it. She hesitated, glancing at her nephew, and then made up her mind.

"Ulquiorra, do you know what an arrancar is?" she asked, earning a gasp from her sister.

"Yes." he replied

"But how? Did your dad tell you?" Yuzu questioned

"No. I would know because in my last life I was an arrancar." he answered without thinking. Karin suddenly put two and two together in her mind.

"Wait…you…Ulquiorra…you were Ulquiorra Schiffer, the fourth Espada!" Yuzu said fearfully, beating her sister to saying the exact same thing. This time Ulquiorra couldn't help himself.

"Obliviously. Tch."

"But how do you know…?" Karin asked, suddenly fearing the child in front of her.

"Because I gained my memories back at a certain age. And I have retained all my memories and the information gathered in my past life." he told them. The translation of that was: Since I was like a bajillion years old I'm way smarter that you two and Einstein put together.

"Wait, so…" Karin trailed off, slowly realizing what that meant. She had basically been pissing off the former Cuatro Espada all morning and afternoon long.

"…" there was suddenly a nervous silence when both women came to realize that Ulquiorra was the equivalent of an adult mind in a child's body. The air became tense and frightful, and some ominous background music might've started playing out of hidden speakers at any given moment. At least until Yuzu's stomach started growling like a pit bull.

Blood rushed to Yuzu's face and she opened her mouth and shut it several times, completely embarrassed. Karin looked at her flatly, giving her sort of 'are you serious' look. Ulquiorra raised his black eyebrows, as if he hadn't been expecting that. Well, really, he hadn't.

"I guess you're hungry. Both of you." Ulquiorra said, just as Karin's stomach growled even louder that her sister's, nearly drowning out the last bit of her nephew's sentence. He smirked, whipped out his iPhone 19, and made a call. A lot like a professional businessman, only a lot more adorable since he was a kid…hehe…how cute.

"Ah…yes…yes, we're at…oh, right. In less than five? Good." Ulquiorra hit the End Call button and slipped the sleek, black cellphone into one of his pockets. In a way, it was like him, dark, slim, expensive, and desirable. (**AN: **who wouldn't want to desire Ulquiorra?)

"Who were you calling?" Yuzu asked curiously. Ulquiorra almost smirked.

"You'll see." he merely said, leaving both women to ponder over who it could be. Yuzu turned to Karin.

"Maybe he called Nii-san." she suggested, but within two minutes a sleek black limousine stopped in front of them. Karin raised her eyebrows and Yuzu's mouth dropped open.

"Kurosaki-sama." the driver stepped out and bowed to Ulquiorra, who nodded in acknowledgement. The driver then opened one of the passenger doors and held it open.

Ulquiorra got in, glancing back at the two stunned females "Coming?"

Karin was the first one to get herself together. She tugged at her sister's sleeve and pulled her along and into the limo. The chauffer closed the door behind them once they were in and got back into the driver's seat.

"Where to, Kurosaki-sama?" the driver questioned. Ulquiorra seemed to think this over for a few moments before answering "The Point."

As the chauffer pulled away from the curb, Yuzu nearly squealed.

"You're taking us to _The Point_? You're _taking us_ to The Point?" she was nearly bouncing in her seat. The Point was the most upscale restaurant in all of Karakura, and well known for it. Only the best dined there, which meant you had to have not just some serious cash, but a name too.

"Yes, I am." Ulquiorra affirmed. Yuzu actually squealed in delight this time, but Karin just sat there and frowned.

"Okay, I don't see how you're gonna get us-"

"Do you know of the manga Tide? As well as other mangas by the author who uses the penname 'El Que Llorra'?"

"Um, yeah. He's written some of the most popular mangas since One Piece and Naruto. Why? Do you know him?"

"Well I would expect so since I am him."

"…Oh…my…freaking…GAWD." Yuzu breathed, staring at him in amazement while her sister just gaped in complete astonishment.

"You…are…" she said weakly. Ulquiorra just shrugged. When you had a certain talent for drawing and a good storyline as well as an idea of what the current otaku was like, it wasn't that hard. Though being a genius sort of helped too.

When they arrived, Ulquiorra was being persuaded, albeit unsuccessfully, by Karin to make a change in the next manga chapter he was releasing in Tide.

"Seriously, Yin should betray Hua! I mean, everyone hates Hua!" Karin insisted. She seemed to have discarded her previous attitude towards Ulquiorra, but was now being the otaku she secretly was.

"He came in twenty-third on the last popularity poll. And I was already going to have Yin do that. I haven't decided whether Hua should die or not." Ulquiorra mused.

"He should!" Yuzu exclaimed as the vehicle came to a stop right in front of The Point. The Point didn't get its name for nothing. It was on a small peninsula, surrounded by water on all three sides except the front. It was nearly three stories tall, and offered and incredible view of the ocean. When Ulquiorra had a writer's block, he usually came here for lunch and would look out over the ocean and the frothing waves. It often inspired him.

The three passengers were let out by the chauffer, who Ulquiorra tipped generously before he drove off. He led them into the restaurant, where they were stopped at the front door.

"I.D.?" a burly looking guy in a black suit asked roughly. Ulquiorra showed him a card, not the least bit intimidated by an adult who towered over him at a height of 6'6 and probably outweighed him by over a hundred pounds.

"Oh, Kurosaki-san, excuse me. Are these two ladies with you?" after a nod from Ulquiorra, he held open a heavy looking glass door that led further into the restaurant. Karin and Yuzu tried hard not to gape at everything, including the few people who were there. It was only a little after lunch, and not very busy.

"So where do you want to sit? There's a second and third story." Ulquiorra said as his aunts followed him. But before they could answer, a call from a nearby table got his attention.

"Ulqui-chan!" Ulquiorra sighed and turned to face the person who had called him by that ridiculous name.

"Hello Izunari." he said as he faced a fairly handsome man who was sitting leisurely at a table close to them with a few young women around him, all of them very beautiful.

"So I see ya snagged yourself some bunnies." he noted with a grin. Ulquiorra just gave him a flat, un-amused look.

"They're my aunts." he replied dryly, causing the man to blink, and then grin "Oh oops, my bad. But that's cool dude. Hey ladies." the man winked at Karin and Yuzu, causing them to nearly faint. Ulquiorra on the other hand was just plain irritated.

"Let's go." he said, leading them towards the elevator.

Five minutes later, Ulquiorra and his two relatives were seated at a table overlooking the ocean. The sun was reflecting off the small waves, making it seem as if the water were sparkling. Coupled with the seabirds calling out with hoarse cries as the soared low over the waters, it was quite beautiful and calming. When the waiter came to take their order, Karin and Yuzu glanced questioningly at their nephew.

"Order whatever you want. I'm just getting a salad and some soda or something." he said dismissively. The waiter jotted this down as if his life depended on it while the twins tried not to drool on the menu.

"Let's see…I'll start with a basket of these fry things, and then I'll have a Sakura Roll, and then…" together, the twins ordered a large amount of food. When finished, the waiter nodded and went away, leaving the trio alone. The second floor was completely deserted except for the three of them.

"So…what's this I hear about a girl you're interested in?" Yuzu questioned casually, causing Ulquiorra's eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

"What?" he quickly feigned surprised, trying to act innocent and look as if he didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"Don't just say 'what', tell us about her? Is she cute? Is she pretty? Is she nice?" Karin smirked, somehow seeing through Ulquiorra. No matter who it was, she was always an expert when it came down to questioning males about their romantic interests.

"What are you talking about? Why would you even want to know?"

"You don't have to keep it a secret, we-"

"Know you're still thinking about her, it's-"

"Plain as day, you-"

"Can't hide it from us, because-"

"We can tell, without-"

"Even-"

"Having-"

"Known-"

"Previously-"

"About you-"

"And her, and-"

"Oh my freaking Chiroptera, stop talking in turn!" Ulquiorra nearly screamed, losing his cool. Hearing Yuzu and Karin speak in turn was enough to drive anyone insane.

"Just tell us about this girl." Karin said simply, or more like, demanded.

"What do you want me to say? Her name is Kendai Aizen-"

"Aizen?"

"Like…Sosuke Aizen…that guy who-"

"Was waging a war against Soul Society and planning to kill the king of Soul Society? That crazy evil guy who-"

"Used to be your boss?" the twins looked at each other and then at Ulquiorra. Karin rose her eyebrows at him "I didn't know you had an interest in sadistic, twisted girls, Ulquiorra."

"First off, Kendai is not 'sadistic' or 'twisted' and she is nothing like her father! She's incredibly kind, caring, brave, and protective of her comrades, and she's a better woman that any other I have ever known or heard of! The only thing scary about her is her battle skill because she's just as or more powerful than her father who is more powerful than you can possibly imagine!" Ulquiorra snapped harshly.

Seconds passed in silence, and then the two women began to laugh. Ulquiorra glared at them "What?"

"Wow Ulqui-chan…" Yuzu giggled

"You really love her, don't you?" Karin laughed, almost breathless from the fit of laughter that had taken hold of both her and her sister momentarily.

"Well of course…" Ulquiorra trailed off, looking down at his hands. He was mildly shocked to hear those words pass from his lips. He couldn't believe how easily he could say that, when he had once scoffed at the very idea of feelings and emotions, of hearts and love and joy and friendship…of…

* * *

"_Hey Ulquiorra." I turned to face the person who had said my name, that familiar voice which had spoken it aloud. I bowed instinctively, without even thinking, an automatic response._

"_Kendai-sama." I said quietly, but all I heard was "Tch." followed by "You don't have to bow and say 'Kendai-sama'. Just 'Kendai' would be fine. You don't have to use any honorifics with me."_

_I straightened up and looked down at her. Yes, I looked down at her, since I was 5'6 1/2 and she was only 4'9. _

"_Though it wouldn't be so bad if you stooped a little." she said teasingly, looking up at me. I couldn't resist rolling my eyes._

"_I can't help the fact that you're short." I nearly came to regret those words as she growled at me, but refrained from kicking my leg with enough strength to break through my hierro._

"_I'm only slightly vertically challenged." she snapped. She was always a bit touchy about her height, and whenever she said 'slightly vertically challenged', Grimmjow would usually respond with 'that's just a fancy term for midget'. Her response to this was not always pleasant for the Sexta Espada._

"…_Right." I settled with that simple response, and turned back to the white landscape. The balcony we were on over looked a good stretch of the moonlit, white desert of Hueco Mundo. It was blank and white, plain and featureless save for the few crystallized trees and dead shrubs here and there. It was much like we, the hollows who inhabited this place. Harsh, unforgiving, emotionless and rational. But almost as if reading my thoughts, Kendai came to my side and spoke._

"_You know, everyone here complains about the white, but white also represents purity and innocence." Kendai pointed out. I looked down at her, my eyelids lowering slightly as my lips tugged further down into a disapproving frown._

"_A complete contrast to us. How ironic." I said sarcastically. Kendai looked at me, tilting her head almost curiously._

"_Not really. I mean, white represents a lot of other things too. Like change. And isn't that what my father's trying to do? Bring change into the world?"_

"_I suppose so." _

"…_Meep." suddenly I was on the ground, staring up at the dark gray sky. I blinked, realizing in a matter of seconds that Kendai had turned me over so she could-_

"_May I ask you why are you examining my ankles?" I asked dryly. Kendai looked at one side of my right ankle, and then the other side._

"_I don't know. I was only curious…hehe…you've got such cute feet. Cute feet…like…Ulqui-chan feet…hehe…" she let go of my ankle and decisively sat on top of me. Only eighty six pounds of shinigami. Only containing enough force to, with a single kick, snap my spine and kill me instantly._

"_My feet are larger than yours." I pointed out, but she nodded "I know. But they're still cute."_

_I almost sighed, looking past her and up at the gray sky. Even though with a single, perhaps strong and well placed kick, she could snap my spine and kill me instantly, a Vasto Lorde, she wouldn't. Kendai simply wasn't like that. She wasn't violent, and cruel like a hollow. She wasn't manipulative and didn't seem the best at survival. It seemed as if she didn't belong here._

_But it was times like these when I remembered certain instances. Times, only moments, brief passages in the continuous flow of time when I had glimpsed her power, similar to her father's. Well, not the hypnosis, but the incredible skill and vast amount of reiatsu as well as frightening intellect. That, and on top of it all, she had one power which was as close to fiction as you could get, yet it was real, and was in her, it was-_

"_By the way, I probably couldn't kill you with a single kick. I don't think I could even do that to a regular hollow." she lied to me. She never seemed to take pride in her skills, like some of the Espada, or fellow shinigami. But there was one skill which she did posses, one which very few people aside from myself knew about. _

_Kendai could read minds, and I was almost certain, manipulate people's thoughts. So there you have it. A shinigami of 4'9 weighing in at eighty-six pounds with more than twice the average captains reiatsu and enough strength to snap a Vasto Lorde's back with one kick and kill it, as well as the ability to read and control minds. Scary right? _

_I looked into her large, bright green eyes which seemed full of life and energy. I felt my previous frown decrease a bit. Scary right? No, not even close._

* * *

"Ulquiorra?" a voice brought him back out of the memory. He looked up from his hands resting on the white silken table cloth, to his aunts. The ones who were with him in the present.

"Hey, are you-oh, the food's coming!" Yuzu's tone changed from worried to excited in a moment. She half rose in her chair in anticipation of the food that the waiter was carrying. Once set down on the table, Yuzu and Karin began to dig in with gusto, making Ulquiorra wonder when was the last time they ate.

He looked down at his own tossed salad and the water next to it, half wishing that he had ordered something with some actual _flavor_ and _texture_ to it. But on the other hand, the sudden memory made his appetite, if any, subside some. He slowly ate his salad and sipped his water, wishing that his order hadn't seemed so…so…_bland._ But on the other hand, he didn't think he could stomach something more solid at the moment.

Ulquiorra gazed over the waves and felt more peaceful. Whenever he looked at the ocean, it calmed him and made him feel slightly better than before. Though, he didn't gaze at the ocean for long because a light tap on the back of his hand drew his attention away from it.

He looked at Karin who was offering him some fries "Want some? They're pretty good."

Ulquiorra hesitated, and then decisively plucked a handful of fries and dumped them on his plate, and began digging in. Eventually the conversation was struck up again, and it took a while for Ulquiorra to realize it, but here, in the present, with his two aunts, he was actually enjoying himself.

**One month later at the Kurosaki residence…**

Rukia helped Karin put her last bag into the car and hugged her. Karin smiled at her brother's wife, feeling a small prick of envy when she noted that within two weeks after having her second child, Rukia was in great shape just like before. Lucky shinigami.

Yuzu hugged Rukia as well, but also looked around for her older brother.

"Where's Ichi-nii?" she wondered aloud. The answer came in the form of Ulquiorra, who came up to them with a very stern and stoic look. But somehow, somewhere, you could just see tiny hints of evil gleaming in his emerald eyes.

"He'll be out shortly." Ulquiorra said quietly, confusing all three females.

"Ulquiorra! Do I have to do this?" Ichigo's voice came from somewhere inside the house. "Yes!" Ulquiorra called back, and then smirked in satisfaction as his father slunk out of the house. Rukia, Karin, and Yuzu stared at the orange haired man for but a mere few seconds and then burst out laughing.

Ichigo was wearing light pink tights, a hot pink leotard, and a sparkly pink tutu with it. He had small pink tinted fairy wings strapped to his back, pink and purple face paint that looked as if it had been done by Rukia, and fuzzy pink and white bunny ears on his head, all top match the pink ballet slippers which were on his feet. Ichigo looked absolutely miserable.

Ulquiorra casually took out his iPhone and started snapping pictures, much to Ichigo's dismay.

"Start tap dancing. Now. You've got ten minutes, and then you can do the Macarena for the next ten minutes."

"What? I thought it was only tap dancing!" Ichigo protested, making the women laugh even harder.

"I changed my mind. Now go, I'm timing you." and on cue some cheesy music started and Ichigo had no choice but to tap dance to it. Karin was doubled over laughing madly, Yuzu was on the ground, her eyes streaming, and Rukia was leaning against the car, unable to stop laughing every time she looked at her husband. Hell, even the taxi driver was laughing his ass off.

This only made things worse for Ichigo, whose face turned the color of his namesake after two minutes.

Once twenty minutes had passed, twenty very degrading minutes for Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu staggered over to their elder brother, hugged him while laughing and trying to say their goodbyes before stumbling over to the taxi and still giggling while the taxi drove them away.

Ichigo stared after the vehicle for a while before going inside and muttering about his pride and dignity gone down the drain. Rukia walked back to the front door, still giggling, and patted Ulquiorra's head on the way.

"That was pretty good." she told him, wiping her eyes. Ulquiorra smiled at her, following her inside. It was good to have a bit of humor in their lives, considering that almost all of the very little time they spent together or enjoying themselves was absolute chaos and disorder. But sometimes it was absolute chaos and disorder in…sort of a good way.

Hours later, Ulquiorra was in his room, planning the next manga chapter for Tide when someone knocked on his door. He was mildly surprised. Most of the time his door was busted down or nearly ripped off its hinges by a forceful entry.

"Come in." Ichigo poked his head in through the door which he opened slightly, peering at what Ulquiorra had on his desk. Ulquiorra had first started out with a desk that his father used to use when studying but no longer used it. Once he had gained enough attention and money from his manga, he auctioned the desk off as the one that 'El Que Llorra' used to write the original chapters of all his mangas on. It was sold to a Russian otaku girl and her brother at a hefty price, shipping and handling paid. Ulquiorra used the money he had gotten from that transaction to buy the best desk he could find, something that suited him.

In the end, Ulquiorra settled for a plain but fairly expensive desk which slightly resembled a drafting table. He put the leftover money in his bank account and had his desk moved into the house with little trouble, thanks to forcing his father to not only bring it up to his room, but assemble it as well.

"What is it?" he asked, turning away from his drawings to his father. Ichigo was momentarily distracted by Ulquiorra's work and nearly forgot why he came in.

"Huh? Wha-Oh right! Here, this just came for you in the mail." Ichigo held out a thick envelope.

"…" Ulquiorra gave him a sort of 'well-why-don't you-bring-it-here-so-I-don't-have-to-get-up-and-get-it' look.

"It's your test results from the entrance exam." Ichigo said, referring to the college entrance exam that Ulquiorra had taken before Karin and Yuzu left.

Before Ichigo even knew it, Ulquiorra was up and out of his chair, so fast that Ichigo wondered if he had just used shunpo in his gigai.

"It's mine! Give it!" he nearly screamed, scaring his father. Ichigo handed it to him hesitantly.

Hands shaking, Ulquiorra snatched it out of his father's grasp and tore it open. Anxiety and pent up emotions were bubbling inside of him, ready to spill over at the slightest provocation. He pulled out the pieces of paper inside and scanned over them with baited breath. He got to the bottom of the first page, where there was an extra note.

'_Dear Kurosaki-san, it has come to our attention that you have flawlessly passed the exams you were given, earning a perfect score on all. We would like to congratulate you for this outstanding achievement which has not occurred for several decades since our institute's founding. This has also come to the attention of several major companies, all who would like nothing more than to support this outstanding young genius in the form of several major scholarships and financial aid.- signed Arika Shitotsu, headmaster'_

Ulquiorra flipped to the second piece of paper which held his test results. They were flawless, perfect, just as the note had said them to be.

Ichigo read this over his son's shoulder, his disbelief growing with each passing second.

"I can't believe it. You got a better score than I did when I took the exam…even Ishida didn't do as well as this…" Ichigo nearly whimpered, skeptical. Ulquiorra stared at it for a moment and then he said politely "Will you please give me a moment?"

Ichigo left the room, and as soon as he shut the door heard "YEAH! I'M GOING TO COLLEGE FOR FREE!"

Ulquiorra came back out in a minute, looking just as he usually did, impassive and stoic.

"I guess we should go shopping for supplies soon."

**

* * *

**

AN:

k thanx to all the peoples who reviewed! and to Xylexia thank you for reviewing! and to address a few things that might've confused anyone, especially in this chapter: 1, Ulquiorra is a child genius, a bit like Gin. Aizen made a comment on his intellect which is impressive since Aizen is one of the most thoughtful and intelligent characters in the manga, his genius only being rivaled by two or so characters, and w/ Ulqui getting back his memories, he gets his smart back to! hehe…if only everyone culd get their smart back from their past lives :) . 2, I accidentally put my OC(yes, Kendai is my OC, and I'll go into her past with Ulqui later on) as 'Kendai Sosuke' when it her surname should be Aizen. I got confused with Aizen's surname and his first name, since I used to always watch the dub (not anymore though, just subbed or raw anime) they always called him 'Aizen' so I assumed that was his first name since they call everyone by their first name in the dub, and I got confused later on, until I looked at the wiki site thingy and it showed his name as it originally was and then in the dub, or 'English order' or whatever, so yeah. 3, Ulqui's going to college in the next chappy! yay! now, I've never been to college, so just stick with me as I 'roughly improvise' as my friend put it when I told him. he doesn't have a lot of faith in this story tho to begin with 4, hehe…this is one of my lucky numbers, as well as Ulqui's Espada number! lol, it's funny since…wait…getting off track…okay…don't think there's anything important for four…er…o right! ok, about this chappy, I got the idea for Ulqui's outfit for Ichi from my icon thingy, which shows Ulqui in a pink dress. he was chasing a wind up duck saying something like 'baachikara' and something else I can't really read and stuff, but my icon thingy shows it without the characters/writing. as for what it means…idk, I could ask my sensei when I get back from break or something. and the reason why Karin and Yuzu treated him like a little kid is cuz…well he DOES look like a little kid, even though mentally he's like an adult and is smarter than most being a genius and all…I attribute this to him remembering everything from his past life, and as for knowing what the current otaku likes…well, he lives with a half-otaku, lol. as for Ulqui's manga characters, Yin and Hua, Yin is Chinese for silver, and Hua is Chinese for flower. if you're a total nerd for bleach and ALWAYS keep up on the newest chappy, you might understand what Karin's talking about. well that's pretty much it, expect don't forget to review! please review! reviews are needed! o and btw, in the italics is a flashback that Ulqui had coming from his POV, Chiroptera is the scientific name for bat…tho idk, this chappy seemed a bit off to me somehow…anyway, please review and tell me what u think, if this chappy was good or horrible. 


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